Book 9: Calliope

Chapter 1

1When Alexander came back and let Mardonius know what the Athenians had answered, he set out from Thessaly and led his army in haste against Athens. Whichever people he came to on the way, that people he took up with him. The leaders of Thessaly had no regret at all for what they had done before, and pressed the Persian on all the more: Thorax of Larisa had escorted Xerxes in his flight, and now he let Mardonius pass openly into Greece.

Chapter 2

1When the army in its march came into Boeotia, the Thebans caught up with Mardonius and advised him, saying that no ground was more fitting for him to encamp on than that, and that he should go no farther, but stay where he was and contrive how he might bring all Greece under his sway without a battle.

2"For while the Greeks are of one mind—and they knew this of old—it is hard, as it is hard for all men, to get the better of them. But if you do what we advise," they said, "you will get all their strong counsels into your hands without toil."

3"Send money to the men who hold power in the cities; by sending it you will set Greece at variance with itself. Once that is done, you will easily subdue those who do not side with you, together with their faction."

Chapter 3

1Such was their advice; but he would not take it, for there had sunk deep into him a terrible longing to take Athens a second time—partly out of wantonness, and partly because he meant to signal to the king by fire-beacons across the islands that he held Athens, the king being in Sardis.

2But when he came into Attica he did not find the Athenians: he learned that the most of them were in Salamis and on board the ships, and he took the city empty. The king's taking of the city came ten months before this later campaign of Mardonius against it.

Chapter 4

1When Mardonius was in Athens he sent to Salamis Murychides, a man of the Hellespont, carrying the very same terms that Alexander the Macedonian had ferried across to the Athenians.

2He sent this a second time not out of any goodwill toward the Athenians, but in hope that they would give way and drop their willfulness, since the land of Attica lay taken by force of arms and lay in his own power.

Chapter 5

1For this reason he sent Murychides to Salamis. Coming before the council, he delivered Mardonius' message. Then Lycidas, one of the councilors, gave it as his opinion that it seemed better to accept the terms Murychides put forward and lay them before the assembly.

2This was the opinion he offered—whether he had taken money from Mardonius, or whether the plan pleased him of itself. The Athenians took it badly at once, those in the council and those outside as soon as they heard of it: they closed around Lycidas and stoned him to death, but Murychides the Hellespontine they sent away unharmed.

3When the uproar over Lycidas arose in Salamis, the Athenian women learned what was afoot; and one woman urging on another, and taking each other along, they went of their own accord to Lycidas' house and stoned his wife and his children.

Chapter 6

1The Athenians had crossed to Salamis in this way. So long as they expected an army to come from the Peloponnese to avenge them, they waited in Attica; but when the others kept making excuses and delays, and the invader was already said to be in Boeotia, then at last they moved everything out to safety and themselves crossed to Salamis. They sent messengers to Lacedaemon: to reproach the Lacedaemonians for looking on while the foreigner invaded Attica instead of meeting him with them in Boeotia; to remind them of all that the Persian had promised to give if they changed sides; and to warn them that if they would not defend the Athenians, the Athenians would find some way of escape of their own.

Chapter 7

1The Lacedaemonians, you see, were keeping festival at that time—it was the Hyacinthia—and held nothing of more account than serving the god; meanwhile the wall they were building across the Isthmus had now even its battlements rising. When the messengers from Athens reached Lacedaemon, bringing with them messengers from Megara and from Plataea, they came before the ephors and spoke as follows.

Chapter 7A

1"Athenians sent us to say that the king of the Medes offers us this: to give us back our land, and to make us his allies on equal and like terms, without deceit or trickery; and to give us another land besides our own, whichever we might choose."

2"But we, in awe of Zeus, god of the Greeks, and counting it a terrible thing to betray Greece, did not consent; we refused—wronged as we were by Greeks and betrayed outright, and knowing well that it is more profitable to come to terms with the Persian than to go on with the war. But we will not consent of our own will. From us, then, this goes out to the Greeks pure, with no alloy in it."

Chapter 7B

1"But you, who were then in such terror that we might make terms with the Persian—now that you know our resolve plainly, that we would never betray Greece, and now that the wall driven across your Isthmus is all but finished, you make nothing of the Athenians; and though you agreed with us that you would meet the Persian in Boeotia, you have betrayed us, and looked on while the foreigner burst into Attica."

2"At this moment the Athenians are angry with you—you did not act as you should. Now they bid you send out your army with all speed to join us, so that we may meet the foreigner in Attica; for since we missed Boeotia, the Thriasian plain is the best ground in our country for a battle."

Chapter 8

1When the ephors heard this, they put off their answer to the next day, and from that day to the one after; and so they did for ten days, putting off from day to day. All this time the Peloponnesians to a man were working with great zeal on the wall across the Isthmus,

2and it was near completion. I cannot tell why: when Alexander the Macedonian came to Athens they made great effort that the Athenians should not go over to the Mede, but now they showed no urgency at all—unless it was that the Isthmus was now fortified and they thought they had no more need of the Athenians. When Alexander came into Attica the wall was not yet finished, and they were working hard, in great dread of the Persians.

Chapter 9

1At last the answer and the going out of the Spartans came about in this way. On the day before the last adjournment was due, Chileus, a Tegean who had more influence than anyone in Lacedaemon among guest-friends, asked the ephors for the whole argument that the Athenians had made. When Chileus had heard it, he said to them:

2"This is how it stands, men who are ephors: if the Athenians are not with us but allied with the foreigner, then, strong as the wall is that has been driven across the Isthmus, great doors are opened for the Persian into the Peloponnese. Take heed, before the Athenians think of some other step that brings disaster on Greece."

Chapter 10

1Such was his counsel to them. They took his word into their hearts on the spot; and telling nothing at all to the messengers who had come from the cities, while it was still night they sent out five thousand Spartans, appointing seven helots to each, and gave Pausanias son of Cleombrotus the command to lead them out.

2The supreme command belonged to Pleistarchus son of Leonidas; but he was still a child, and Pausanias was his guardian and cousin. Cleombrotus, Pausanias' father, son of Anaxandrides, was no longer living: he had led the army back from the Isthmus after building its wall, and not long afterwards, after a brief span of life, he died.

3This was why Cleombrotus had led the army away from the Isthmus: as he sacrificed over the Persian, the sun darkened in the sky. Pausanias took to himself Euryanax son of Dorieus, a man of the same house.

Chapter 11

1So these had gone out of Sparta with Pausanias. When day came, the messengers, knowing nothing of their departure, came again before the ephors, each of them minded to go home as soon as might be. Coming before them, they said: "You Lacedaemonians, staying here, keep your Hyacinthia and make merry, having betrayed your allies outright; the Athenians, wronged by you and robbed of allies, will make terms with the Persian as best they can."

2"And when they have made terms—plainly we become the king's allies then—we shall join his campaigns wherever he leads. From then on you will learn what comes of it." While the messengers were still speaking, the ephors said, on their oath, that they believed the army was already at Oresteion, on its march against the guests; for "guests" was the name they gave to the foreigners.

3The messengers, feigning not to know what was said, asked questions; and asking, they learned the whole truth, so that, in their amazement, they set off again as fast as they could in pursuit. With them went five thousand picked hoplites of the Lacedaemonian perioeci, doing the very same.

Chapter 12

1These made all haste to the Isthmus. The Argives, as soon as ever they learned that the men with Pausanias had marched out of Sparta, sent a herald of the day-runners, the best they could find, into Attica—for they had promised Mardonius beforehand that they would hold the Spartan back so that he should not march out.

2When he came to Athens he said: "Mardonius, the Argives sent me to tell you that the young men have marched out of Lacedaemon, and that the Argives cannot hold them back from going out. It is well for you to take counsel in face of this."

Chapter 13

1Having said this, the herald went his way back. Mardonius was no longer at all eager to stay in Attica when he heard it. Until then he had waited, wanting to learn what the Athenians would do, and had neither wasted nor burned the land of Attica, hoping to the very end that they would come to terms;

2but when he could not bring them to it, and learned the whole story, he withdrew before those with Pausanias could burst into the Isthmus, first burning Athens and casting down and razing to the ground whatever was yet standing of walls, buildings, or temples.

3He marched out for these reasons: Attica was not a country fit for horse; and if he joined battle and lost, there was no way of escape except through a narrow pass, so that a handful of men could hold it. His plan, then, was to fall back to Thebes and give battle by a friendly city and in country suited to cavalry.

Chapter 14

1So Mardonius was withdrawing; but while he was on the road word came to him that a vanguard was coming to Megara, a thousand Lacedaemonians. When he learned this he formed a plan, wanting if he could to take these first. Wheeling his army about, he led it against Megara, and his cavalry, riding on ahead, overran the Megarid. This was the farthest point toward the setting sun in Europe to which this Persian army ever came.

Chapter 15

1After this word came to Mardonius that the Greeks were gathered in the Isthmus. So he marched back by way of Decelea: the Boeotarchs had sent for the men who lived along the Asopus, and these guided him by Sphendales and from there to Tanagra.

2He passed the night in Tanagra, and turning aside the next day came to Scolus, in the country of the Thebans. There, though the Thebans were on the Mede's side, he cut down their trees—not out of enmity toward them, but held fast by sheer necessity, wanting to make a rampart for his army, and, if the battle should not go as he wished, that was to be his refuge.

3He drew his camp there, beginning from Erythrae, past Hysiae, and stretching toward the land of Plataea, drawn up along the river Asopus. He did not make the wall so very great, however, but each face of it was ten stades at the most.

Chapter 16

1While the foreigners were at this task, Attaginus son of Phrynon, a Theban, made preparations on a great scale and invited to a banquet Mardonius himself and fifty of the most notable Persians; these came when called. The dinner was held in Thebes. What follows I heard from Thersander, an Orchomenian, among the first men of mark in Orchomenus. Thersander said that he too had been invited by Attaginus to this dinner, and fifty men of Thebes with him; and that the guests were not seated apart by nation, but a Persian and a Theban reclined on every couch.

2After the meal, as they were drinking, the Persian who shared his couch asked him, speaking in the Greek tongue, what countryman he was; and he answered that he was of Orchomenus. Then the Persian said: "Now that you have become my table-fellow and drunk from the same bowl, I would leave you a memorial of my judgment, so that, forewarned, you may have it in your power to plan for your own good."

3"You see these Persians at their feast, and the army we left encamped by the river? Of all that host, in a little while you will see but a few left alive." So the Persian spoke, letting fall many tears as he said it.

4Thersander marveled at the words and said to him: "Is it not wrong for you to say such things, when Mardonius must hear of it, and the Persians who stand highest in his favor after him?" The Persian answered: "Friend, what the god has decreed, no man can turn aside. For no one is willing to be persuaded when the words told him are not the ones he can believe."

5"Many of us Persians know this, yet we follow on, bound fast by necessity. This is the bitterest pain there is among men: to know much and control nothing." This I heard from Thersander of Orchomenus; and this further, that he was telling these things to men before ever the battle of Plataea came to pass.

Chapter 17

1While Mardonius lay encamped in Boeotia, all the rest who had gone over to the Mede of the Greeks dwelling in those parts furnished their contingents and joined in the march on Athens; the Phocians alone did not join—and they too had gone over to the Mede in full earnest—not of their own will but under compulsion.

2A few days after the arrival at Thebes there came a thousand of their hoplites, led by Harmocydes, a man of the greatest name among the citizens. When these too came to Thebes, Mardonius sent horsemen and ordered them to take up their ground by themselves on the plain.

3When they had done so, the whole body of the cavalry was at once upon them. After this a rumor ran through the Greek camp, the one that stood with the Medes, that the horsemen meant to spear the Phocians; and through the Phocians themselves ran the same.

4Then their commander Harmocydes gave them this counsel: "Phocians, it is plain these men intend to put us to death out of hand, slandered as we are by the Thessalians—so I judge. Now every man of you must show himself a good man. It is better to die doing something and defending yourselves than to let yourselves be destroyed in the most shameful fashion. Let them learn that these are foreigners who have stitched together murder against Greek men."

Chapter 18

1He was still giving this counsel when the horsemen, having wheeled around them, bore down as if to destroy them; the missiles were already drawn back to shoot, and some were even let fly. The Phocians stood to meet them, wheeling on every side and closing their ranks as close as might be. Then the horsemen wheeled about and rode away back.

2I cannot say for certain whether they had come meaning to destroy the Phocians at the Thessalians' request, and then, seeing them turn to defend themselves, feared wounds for themselves and so rode back—that, indeed, is what Mardonius had ordered them—or whether he wanted to make trial of them, to see whether they had any manhood in them.

3When the horsemen had ridden back, Mardonius sent them a herald, who said: "Take heart, Phocians. You have shown yourselves men of worth, not such as I had heard. Even now carry on this war with a good will; for by services done you will not get the better of me or of the king." So far went the matter of the Phocians.

Chapter 19

1When the Lacedaemonians came to the Isthmus they encamped there. The rest of the Peloponnesians, when they learned this—those who thought the better course was so, and those who saw the Spartans on the march—judged it not right to be left behind the Lacedaemonians' going out.

2So all marched out from the Isthmus when the sacrifices proved fair, and came to Eleusis; and there too they offered sacrifice and found it fair, and went on, the Athenians with them, who had crossed from Salamis and joined them at Eleusis.

3When they came to Erythrae in Boeotia, they learned that the foreigners lay encamped along the Asopus; and being told this, they drew up in line opposite them on the slopes of Cithaeron.

Chapter 20

1When the Greeks would not come down to the plain, Mardonius sent against them all his cavalry, whose commander was Masistius, a man of high repute among the Persians—the Greeks call him Macistius—mounted on a Nisaean horse with a bit of gold and otherwise finely adorned. When the horsemen came charging up to the Greeks they attacked in squadrons, and attacking did them great harm, and called them women in their taunts.

Chapter 21

1By chance the Megarians had been posted where the ground was most assailable of the whole position, and where the cavalry had its best approach. So when the horse attacked, the Megarians, hard pressed, sent a herald to the commanders of the Greeks; and the herald, coming to them, said:

2"The Megarians say this: allies, we cannot withstand the Persian horse alone, holding the post we took up at the outset; and yet, hard pressed as we are, we have held out so far in endurance and in courage. Now, if you send no others to relieve our post, know that we will abandon our station."

3This the herald brought word of; and Pausanias made trial of the Greeks, whether any others would volunteer to go to that ground and take their stand as the Megarians' reliefs. The others being unwilling, the Athenians undertook it—three hundred picked men, whose captain was Olympiodorus son of Lampon.

Chapter 22

1These were the men who took over the post, and they stood forth of all the Greeks present, drawn up at Erythrae, having taken the archers to their side. When they had fought for a time, this was how the fight ended. As the horse charged in squadrons, the horse of Masistius, out in front of all the rest, was struck in the flank by an arrow; the animal reared with the pain, stood upright, and threw Masistius.

2He fell, and the Athenians were upon him at once. They caught his horse and then set about killing him as he defended himself—at first without success. For he was armed in this manner: beneath his corselet he wore one of gold scales, and over the corselet he had donned a scarlet tunic. Striking at the corselet they did nothing, until one of them, perceiving what was done, struck him in the eye. So he fell and died.

3All this escaped the notice of the other horsemen: they neither saw him fall from his horse nor die, and in the wheeling away and wheeling back they never learned what had happened. When they halted, they missed him at once—no one had command of them. When they learned the truth, they gave the word and all together rode their horses forward, to recover the body if they could.

Chapter 23

1The Athenians, seeing the horsemen no longer riding up in squadrons but all in a body, brought out the rest of the army to the rescue. And while all the foot was still hurrying up, a sharp fight arose over the body.

2So long as the three hundred stood alone, they were far worsted and even lost the body; but when the multitude came to their aid, the horsemen could no longer stand against them, nor did they succeed in taking the body up—and besides him they lost other horsemen too. Falling back some two stades, they took counsel what they ought to do; and since they were without a commander, it seemed best to ride back to Mardonius.

Chapter 24

1When the cavalry reached the camp, the whole army mourned for Masistius, and Mardonius most of all: they cut their own hair, and the hair of their horses and beasts of burden, and gave themselves to unmeasured wailing, so that all Boeotia rang with the sound—so great a man had been lost, who after Mardonius was most in honor among the Persians and with the king.

Chapter 25

1The foreigners honored Masistius in death after their own fashion. The Greeks, on their side, having withstood the charge of the horse and pushed it off, took far greater heart; they first laid the body on a cart and carried it along the ranks. And the body was a sight worth seeing for its size and its beauty; that is why they did this—the men kept leaving their places to go and gaze at Masistius.

2Then it seemed good to them to come down to Plataea; for that ground seemed much better suited for an army to encamp upon than the Erythraean—among other reasons, because it was better watered. To that ground, then, and to the spring Gargaphia that lies in it, they resolved to come and, once marshaled, to encamp there.

3Taking up their arms, they went along the slopes of Cithaeron past Hysiae into the land of Plataea; and coming there they marshaled themselves by nations, near the spring Gargaphia and the precinct of the hero Androcrates, across ground of low ridges and open level stretches.

Chapter 26

1There, in the marshaling, a great strife of words arose between the Tegeans and the Athenians, each side claiming to hold the other wing, and each bringing forward deeds both new and old. The Tegeans spoke as follows:

2"We have always claimed this post of all the allies, in every joint expedition the Peloponnesians have made, from old times to the new, ever since the day when the Heracleidae, after the death of Eurystheus, essayed to come down into the Peloponnese.

3It was then we won the claim, through an event like this: with the Achaeans and the Ionians who then dwelt in the Peloponnese we had marched out to the Isthmus and taken our stand against the invaders. Then, they say, Hyllus made proclamation that army need not put itself in hazard against army, but that the man judged best from the Peloponnesian host should meet him in single combat on agreed terms.

4The Peloponnesians judged this the thing to do and cut an oath upon these terms: if Hyllus conquered the Peloponnesian leader, the Heracleidae were to come down into their fathers' lands; if he were beaten, then the contrary—the Heracleidae were to depart and lead their army away, and for a hundred years seek no road down into the Peloponnese.

5Echemus son of Aeropus son of Phegeus, our own commander and king, was chosen as volunteer from all the allies; he fought the single combat and killed Hyllus. From that deed we won among the Peloponnesians of that day other great honors besides, which we hold to this day: to command the other wing whenever a common expedition goes forth.

6Against you, Lacedaemonians, we make no claim; we yield you the choice of which wing you wish to command. But the other, we say, we have come to command, as in time past. And apart from this exploit I have told, we are better entitled than the Athenians to hold this post.

7For many are the contests we have fought out with you, men of Sparta, and with honor, and many with others too. It is just, then, that we hold the other wing rather than the Athenians: they have no deeds wrought like ours, neither new nor old."

Chapter 27

1So they spoke; and the Athenians answered them: "We know well that this muster was gathered for battle against the foreigner, not for words. But since the Tegean has led the way, bidding each side tell of the good deeds it has wrought through all its time, we are bound to make plain to you how it comes that we, being good men, have it by inheritance always to hold the first place rather than the Arcadians.

2The Heracleidae, whose leader at the Isthmus these men claim to have killed—those men, before that, driven out by all the Greeks, came fleeing slavery at the Mycenaeans' hands, and we alone took them in; we brought down the outrage of Eurystheus, and in battle beside them we defeated those who then held the Peloponnese.

3And the Argives who marched with Polyneices against Thebes, when their lives were ended and they lay unburied—we say that we went to war with the Cadmeans, took up their bodies, and buried them in our own country at Eleusis.

4There is also a fine deed of ours against the Amazons, who once came up from the river Thermodon into the land of Attica; and in the labors at Troy we fell short of nothing. But it profits nothing to remind you of such things; for men who were good then might be worse today, and men who were base then better now.

5Enough, then, of ancient deeds. Even if nothing else were proven of us—and much there is, and of the best, proven both to you and to other Greeks—yet by the deed at Marathon we deserve this honor and others besides it: we, who alone of the Greeks fought the Persian in a single battle, and undertaking so great a venture conquered, and defeated forty-six nations.

6Is it not just that we hold this post for that one deed? But it is not fitting to quarrel over a post such as this. We are ready to obey you, Lacedaemonians; it seems to us best to take our stand wherever you place us—placed anywhere, we will endeavor to be good men. Lead us on, then, as men who will follow."

Chapter 28

1Thus they answered one another; and the whole Lacedaemonian host cried out that the Athenians were better entitled than the Arcadians to hold the wing. So the Athenians won it and overcame the Tegeans.

2After this the Greeks drew up as follows—those who kept coming in and those who had come at the first. The right wing was held by ten thousand Lacedaemonians; and of these, the five thousand who were Spartans were guarded by light-armed helots thirty-five thousand in number, seven drawn up about each man.

3The Spartans chose the Tegeans to stand next to them, both for honor and for valor; of these there were fifteen hundred hoplites. After them stood five thousand Corinthians; beside these, Pausanias allowed the three hundred Potidaeans of Pallene who were there to stand.

4Next after these stood six hundred Arcadians of Orchomenus; after them three thousand Sicyonians; close to these eight hundred Epidaurians. Beside these were drawn up a thousand Troezenians, and after the Troezenians two hundred Lepreans; after them four hundred Mycenaeans and Tirynthians; next to these a thousand Phliasians. Beside these stood three hundred Hermionians.

5Next after the Hermionians stood six hundred Eretrians and Styreans; after these four hundred Chalcidians; next five hundred Ambraciots. After these stood eight hundred Leucadians and Anactorians, and close to them two hundred Paleans from Cephallenia.

6After these five hundred Aeginetans were posted. Beside them stood three thousand Megarians; and next to these six hundred Plataeans. Last, and first, stood the Athenians, eight thousand strong, holding the left wing; Aristides son of Lysimachus was their general.

Chapter 29

1These, apart from the seven drawn up with each Spartan, were all hoplites, and their whole number came to thirty-eight thousand seven hundred. So many were all the hoplites gathered against the foreigner. The mass of the light-armed was this: of the Spartan division, thirty-five thousand men, counting seven to each man-at-arms, and every one of them equipped for war;

2and the light-armed of the other Lacedaemonians and Greeks, one to each man, were thirty-four thousand five hundred.

Chapter 30

1The whole host of light-armed fighting men, then, was sixty-nine thousand five hundred; and the entire Greek force gathered at Plataea, hoplites and light-armed fighting men together, came to eleven myriad, falling short of it by a thousand and by eight hundred men. With the Thespians present the eleven myriad was made up: in the camp were also the surviving Thespians, eighteen hundred in number, and these too were without arms. Drawn up along the Asopus, these were encamped.

Chapter 31

1The foreigners about Mardonius, when they had done mourning for Masistius, came on, learning that the Greeks were at Plataea, and came in their turn to the Asopus that flows there. Arriving, they drew up opposite as Mardonius disposed them: against the Lacedaemonians he set the Persians.

2The Persians far exceeded them in multitude and so, drawn up in deep ranks, they overlapped the Tegeans. This was his ordering: choosing out all the strongest among them he set them against the Lacedaemonians, and the weaker he arrayed against the Tegeans. He did this on the information and instruction of the Thebans.

3Next to the Persians he set the Medes, and these faced the Corinthians, the Potidaeans, the Orchomenians, and the Sicyonians. Next to the Medes he set the Bactrians, and they faced the Epidaurians, the Troezenians, the Lepreans, the Tirynthians, the Mycenaeans, and the Phliasians.

4After the Bactrians he set the Indians, and they faced the Hermionians, the Eretrians, the Styreans, and the Chalcidians. Next to the Indians he arrayed the Sacae, and they faced the Ambraciots, the Anactorians, the Leucadians, the Paleans, and the Aeginetans.

5Next to the Sacae he set, facing the Athenians, the Plataeans, and the Megarians, the Boeotians, the Locrians, the Melians, the Thessalians, and the thousand Phocians. For not all the Phocians had gone over to the Mede: some of them, holding out in the fastnesses about Parnassus, built up the Greeks' cause, and from there as a base plundered and harried the army of Mardonius and the Greeks that were with him. Against the Athenians he also set the Macedonians and the peoples settled about Thessaly.

Chapter 32

1These are the greatest of the nations named in Mardonius' array, the most conspicuous and the most spoken of. There were mingled in with them men of other nations besides—Phrygians, Thracians, Mysians, Paeonians, and the rest—and among these, too, Ethiopians and Egyptians, the Hermotybies and the Calasiries, called dagger-bearers, who are the only fighting men among the Egyptians.

2These he had landed from the ships while he was still at Phalerum, to serve aboard as marines; for the Egyptians had not been enrolled in the foot that came with Xerxes to Athens. The foreigners numbered three hundred myriads, as was shown before. Of the Greeks who were Mardonius' allies no one knows the number, for they were never counted; but judging by comparison I reckon that fifty thousand were gathered. These were the foot drawn up in line; the horse was posted apart.

Chapter 33

1When all had been marshaled by nations and by companies, then on the next day both sides sacrificed. The sacrifice for the Greeks was performed by Tisamenus son of Antiochus, the seer who followed this army. The Lacedaemonians had made him a fellow-citizen; he was an Elean, of the stock of the Iamidae, [Clytiadas' line].

2For when Tisamenus consulted the oracle at Delphi about begetting children, the Pythia answered that he would win five of the greatest contests. He, missing the meaning of the oracle, gave himself to training, expecting to win contests of the gymnasium; and training for the pentathlon, he came within one wrestling fall of winning an Olympiad, coming to a dispute with Hieronymus son of Andrias.

3The Lacedaemonians, learning that Tisamenus' oracle pointed not to contests of the gymnasium but to contests of war, tried with pay to win him over, to make him, alongside the Heracleid kings, leader of their wars.

4He, seeing that the Spartans counted it a matter of great moment to attach him as their friend, named this his price: he let them know that if they made him their citizen, sharing with him in all things, he would do it; on any other pay, never.

5The Spartans at first, on hearing this, were troubled and let the oracle's promise go altogether; but at last, with great fear hanging over them from this Persian army, they gave way and agreed. He, seeing they had turned about, then said that even so these terms alone no longer sufficed: his brother Hegias must be made a Spartan as well, upon the same terms as he himself.

Chapter 34

1In speaking thus he imitated Melampus, who asked, as it were, for kingship and citizenship together. For when the women of Argos were stricken mad, and the Argives hired Melampus from Pylos to cure their women of the sickness, he named as his price one half of the kingship.

2The Argives would not bear this and went their way; but when still more of the women went mad, then they yielded and came to offer what Melampus had demanded at the first. He, seeing them turned about, then pushed further: unless they gave his brother Bias also a third part of the kingship, he would not do what they wanted. The Argives, driven to a strait, agreed to this too.

Chapter 35

1So too the Spartans, since they stood in dire need of Tisamenus, yielded him everything. When the Spartans had conceded this as well, Tisamenus the Elean, become a Spartan, joined his agreement with theirs—he who by divination won for them five of the greatest contests. And these two were the only men of all mankind ever made citizens of Sparta.

2The five contests were these: the first this one at Plataea; the next that at Tegea, against the Tegeans and the Argives; after that the one at Dipaieis, against all the Arcadians save the Mantineans; then the Messenian, at Ithome; and last the one at Tanagra, against the Athenians and the Argives. This last of the five contests was the final one to be wrought.

Chapter 36

1This then was Tisamenus, who on that occasion divined for the Greeks in the land of Plataea, the Spartans leading them forth. For the Greeks the sacrifices proved fair for standing on the defensive; but for crossing the Asopus and beginning the battle they did not.

Chapter 37

1Mardonius was eager to begin the battle, but the omens were not favorable to it; when he took up a defensive posture they were fair — and for the omens he too was using Greek rites, keeping as his diviner Hegesistratus, an Elean of the clan of the Telliadae and by far the most renowned of that house, whom the Spartans had once taken and put in bonds to die, reckoning that they had suffered many lawless things at his hands.

2Caught in this misery — running for his life, and doomed to suffer many grievous things before he died — he performed a deed greater than words can tell. For though he was fast bound in a wooden stock, iron-bound, he somehow got possession of a piece of iron passed in to him, and at once contrived the manliest deed of all we know: for, measuring how much of his foot would be left over, he cut away the flat of his own foot.

3This done, though he was kept under guard, he tunneled through the wall and fled to Tegea, traveling by night, and by day hiding in the forest and making camp; and so it fell out that on the third morning he was in Tegea, while the Lacedaemonians searched for him on every side — and they stood in great astonishment at his daring, seeing the severed half of his foot lying there and yet unable to find the man.

4Having thus given the Lacedaemonians the slip, he fled to Tegea, which at that time stood in no treaty with the Lacedaemonians; but when he was healed and had fitted himself a wooden foot, he became openly their enemy. Yet in the end the hatred he had gathered against the Lacedaemonians brought him no harvest; for they caught him practicing divination in Zacynthus, and he died.

Chapter 38

1The death of this man came, however, after the battle of Plataea; at the time he was on the Asopus he was in Mardonius' pay, and he sacrificed liberally and with great zeal, both for the hatred he bore the Lacedaemonians and for the sake of gain.

2But because the omens were not fair for battle, neither for the Persians themselves nor for the Greeks who were with them — for these too kept a diviner of their own, Hippomachus of Leucas — and the Greeks were still streaming in and growing ever more numerous, Timagenidas of Herpyia, a Theban, counseled Mardonius to watch the passes out of Cithaeron, saying that the Greeks were coming through every single day and that he could catch many of them there.

Chapter 39

1Eight days had already gone by with the two armies encamped opposite each other when he gave this counsel to Mardonius. He, seeing the advice was good, as soon as night fell sent his cavalry to the passes of Cithaeron that lead down upon Plataea, which the Boeotians call the Three Heads and the Athenians the Oak Heads. The horsemen did not ride out in vain:

2for as they swept down into the plain they caught five hundred beasts of burden bringing food from the Peloponnese to the camp, and the men who followed the wagons. Taking this booty, the Persians slaughtered without restraint, sparing neither pack animal nor man; and when they had glutted themselves with killing, they drove off the rest, penned round, to Mardonius and into the camp.

Chapter 40

1After this affair they spent two more days, neither side choosing to begin the battle; the foreigners kept advancing to the Asopus to make trial of the Greeks, but neither side crossed. Mardonius' cavalry, however, was forever pressing upon the Greeks and doing them harm; for the Thebans, who had Medized on a grand scale, prosecuted the war with a will and were always driving it toward battle, and taking their lead from these the Persians and Medes showed themselves men of no little valor.

Chapter 41

1For ten days nothing more happened than this; but when the eleventh day of the opposing camps had come — the Greeks had by then grown far more numerous, and Mardonius was chafing at the ground he sat on — Mardonius son of Gobryas and Artabazus son of Pharnaces came together in talk, Artabazus being one of the few Persians who stood in repute with Xerxes.

2As they deliberated, these were the opinions given: the opinion of Artabazus, that they must strike camp and march with all speed, the whole army, to the wall of the Thebans, where much food had been brought in for them and fodder for the pack animals, and that sitting quiet there they should set about managing matters on this wise:

3they had gold in great quantity, both stamped and unstamped, and much silver too, and drinking-vessels; sparing none of this, they should send it in secret to the Greeks, and above all to the men who held the first places in the cities, and the Greeks would quickly give up their freedom — and that they must not put the issue to the hazard of a battle.

4The opinion of the Thebans was the same as this, for they knew something of the matter better than he did; but the judgment of Mardonius was the stronger and the harsher, and in no wise to be argued with: that their own army was far the better against the Greek; that they must fight as soon as might be, and not look idly on while others still gathered to those already gathered; and that Hegesistratus' omens should be let alone and no force put upon them, but they must fight by the usage of the Persians.

Chapter 42

1Since this was his ruling, no one spoke against it, and his opinion carried the day; for he held command of the army from the king, and not Artabazus. Sending then for the company-commanders of the contingents and for the generals of the Greeks who were with him, he asked whether they knew of any oracle concerning the Persians, that they were to perish in Hellas.

2Those called in were silent — some because they did not know the oracles, some who knew them but were afraid and did not care to speak — until Mardonius himself said: "Since then you either know nothing or else dare not speak, I will tell you myself, knowing it well:

3there is an oracle that it is fated for the Persians, when they come into Hellas, to plunder the temple at Delphi, and that after the plunder they are all to perish. We therefore, knowing this very thing, neither go near that temple nor attempt to plunder it, and for that reason we shall not perish.

4So you, as many of you as are well disposed to the Persians, may rejoice at this, that you will survive the Greeks." With these words to them he next gave the signal that everything was to be put in order and made ready, since with the next day's light there would be battle.

Chapter 43

1Now this oracle, which Mardonius said belonged to the Persians, I know was made for the Illyrians and for the army of the Encheleans, and not for the Persians. But of the oracles the Bacidae uttered, there is nothing made for this battle,

2though there is this, spoken by Museius: "By Thermodon and by Asopus, where brides go down to bathe, / there shall be a gathering of Greeks and a cry of foreign tongues, / and there shall many fall, each to his lot and death, of the bow-bearing Medes, / when the fated day shall come upon them." These things, and others like them, I know to be oracles of Museius concerning the Persians. The river Thermodon flows between Tanagra and Glisas.

Chapter 44

1After this questioning of the oracles and this exhortation from Mardonius, night came on, and they took up their guard posts. But when the night was well advanced, and quiet seemed to lie over both camps and the men for the most part to be asleep, Alexander son of Amyntas — commander and king of the Macedonians — rode his horse up to the guard posts of the Athenians and asked to be brought into speech with the generals.

2Most of the guards stayed where they were; some ran off to the generals, and arriving told them that a man had come on horseback out of the camp of the Medes, one who uttered no other word than this — he kept naming the generals and said he wished to come to speech with them.

Chapter 45

1Hearing this, they at once followed him to the posts; and when they had come, Alexander spoke as follows: "Men of Athens, I lay these words before you as a thing held in deposit, charging you to tell them to no man but Pausanias — unless you would bring me to destruction; for I would never have spoken, had I not cared greatly for the safety of all Hellas.

2For I myself am a Greek of ancient race, and I would not willingly look on and see Hellas enslaved instead of free. This then is what I tell you: Mardonius and his army cannot get omens fair for battle — else you would have fought long ago. But now it has been resolved to let the omens be, and to join battle with the first light of dawn; for he is afraid that you may gather in still greater numbers — so at least I judge. Make ready against this. Yet if Mardonius should let the battle go by and not fight it, stand your ground and wait; for only a few days' provisions are left them.

3But if this war should end as you desire, remember to think of me too for the sake of your freedom — I who for Hellas' sake have done so daring a deed out of eager zeal, wishing to show you the mind of Mardonius, lest the foreigners fall upon you suddenly before you look for it. I am Alexander the Macedonian." So he spoke, and rode back to the camp and to his own place in it.

Chapter 46

1The Athenian generals came to the right wing and reported to Pausanias what they had heard from Alexander. He, dreading the Persians at this news, spoke as follows.

2"Since, then, the battle comes at dawn, it is right that you, the Athenians, take your stand against the Persians, and we against the Boeotians and the Greeks drawn up over against you; and for this reason: you know the Medes and their fighting, having fought them at Marathon, while we are untried and without skill against these men — not one of the Spartans has ever made trial of the Medes; but of the Boeotians and Thessalians we are experienced.

3Take up your arms, then, and come to this wing, and we will go to the left." To this the Athenians answered: "For us too, from of old, ever since we saw the Persians drawn up against you, it was in our minds to say just the things you have been beforehand in uttering; but we were afraid the words might not please you. Now that you yourselves have raised the matter, your words are welcome to us, and we are ready to do this."

Chapter 47

1As this pleased both sides, the dawn was now breaking and they changed their stations. The Boeotians, perceiving what was afoot, announced it to Mardonius; and he, as soon as he heard it, tried in his turn to shift, moving the Persians over against the Lacedaemonians. When Pausanias learned that this was being done and saw that his move was not escaping notice, he led the Spartans back to the right wing; and Mardonius in the same manner moved to the left.

Chapter 48

1When they had settled again into their former stations, Mardonius sent a herald to the Spartans and said: "Lacedaemonians, it is said here among these people that you are the bravest of men, and the tale told of you passes all belief: that you never turn in flight from battle, never abandon your post, but hold your ground and either destroy those who stand against you or die yourselves.

2Of all that there was nothing true; for before we had ever closed with you and come to grips, we had already seen you fleeing and quitting your post — both in that first trial you made at Athens, and yourselves drawn up face to face with our slaves.

3Those are in no way the deeds of brave men, and no men ever deceived us more than you; for we expected, judging by your fame, that you would send a herald to us to offer challenge, wishing to fight the Persians alone, and being fully equal to it — instead, we found you saying nothing of the kind, but cowering rather. Now then, since you did not begin this word, we begin it.

4Why then should we not fight it out — you on the side of the Greeks, since you are judged their best, and we on the side of the foreigners, equal number against equal number? If it seems good to you that the rest also should fight, then let them fight afterward; but if it does not seem good, and we alone are enough, we will fight it out; and whichever of the two of us wins, let that victory count for the whole army."

Chapter 49

1Having said this and waited some time, and no one answering him a word, he withdrew and went back; and on his return he reported to Mardonius what had befallen. Mardonius, overjoyed and puffed up with an unbloodied victory, sent his cavalry upon the Greeks.

2When the horsemen charged, they threw the whole Greek army into disorder, hurling their javelins and shooting arrows — for they were horse-archers, and there was no way to come to grips with them — and they trampled and choked up the spring Gargaphia, from which the whole Greek army drew its water.

3The Lacedaemonians alone were drawn up beside the spring; for the rest of the Greeks it lay far off, each contingent being posted where it was, while the Asopus was close at hand. Yet since the Asopus was barred to them, they kept making their way to the spring; for from the river they could no longer carry water because of the horsemen and the flights of arrows.

Chapter 50

1With things in this pass, the generals of the Greeks — the army robbed of its water and harried by the horse — gathered in council about these very matters and others, coming to Pausanias at the right wing. But other things of the same kind pressed harder upon them: they had no food left, and the men they had sent off to the Peloponnese to fetch provisions had been cut off by the horse and could not get back to the camp.

Chapter 51

1As the generals deliberated, it seemed good to them that if the Persians let that day pass without joining battle, they were to move to the island. It lies ten stades from the Asopus and from the spring Gargaphia, by which they were then encamped, and in front of the city of the Plataeans.

2It would be an island in the midst of the mainland: for the river, breaking in two above, out of Cithaeron, comes down into the plain, its two streams holding apart from one another by about three stades, and then flows together into one again. The name of it is Oeroe;

3the people of the country say she is a daughter of Asopus. To this ground, then, they resolved to shift their camp, so that they might have water in abundance to use, and the horsemen might not ride them down as they did while they sat where they were; and it was resolved that the move be made at the second watch of the night, for fear the Persians might see them setting out, and the horsemen, following after, throw them into disorder.

4And when they should come to that ground — the one which the Asopis, called Oeroe, running down from Cithaeron, splits around — it was resolved that on that very night half the army be sent out from the camp toward Cithaeron, to bring back the baggage-bearers who had gone after provisions; for these had been cut off in Cithaeron.

Chapter 52

1Having resolved on this, they passed that whole day in toil without rest while the horse pressed them; but when the day wore out and the horsemen ceased, and night had come and the hour was upon them at which they had agreed to be gone, then the greater number rose up and moved off — but with no thought of the ground they had agreed on — while others, once they were in motion, were only too glad to run from the horse toward the city of the Plataeans, and in their flight they came to the Heraion. That lies before the city of Plataea, twenty stades from the spring Gargaphia; and coming there they set down their arms before the temple.

Chapter 53

1These men encamped about the Heraion; and Pausanias, seeing them going out of the camp, ordered the Lacedaemonians also to take up their arms and follow after the others who had gone on ahead, supposing that they were making for the ground on which they had agreed.

2At this the other company-commanders were ready to obey Pausanias; but Amompharetus son of Poliades, leader of the lochos of Pitane, refused: he said he would not flee from the foreigners, nor of his own will bring disgrace upon Sparta; and he marveled at what he saw being done, because he had not been present at the earlier council.

3To Pausanias and Euryanax it seemed a dreadful thing that he would not obey them, and more dreadful still that, with his refusal, they should abandon the lochos of Pitane; for if they left him and did what they had agreed upon with the rest of the Greeks, that lochos might be destroyed, Amompharetus himself and those with him left behind.

4Weighing these things, they kept the Lacedaemonian army quietly where it stood and tried to persuade him that he need do no such thing.

Chapter 54

1So they were persuading Amompharetus, the Lacedaemonians and Tegeans being left alone on the field; the Athenians did as follows: they held themselves quietly in the place where they were drawn up, knowing the cast of the Lacedaemonians' minds, that they think one thing and say another.

2But when the camp was in motion, they sent one of their horsemen to see whether the Spartans were beginning to march, or had no thought at all of moving off, and to ask Pausanias what it was right to do.

Chapter 55

1When the herald came to the Lacedaemonians, he found them drawn up on rising ground and their leaders fallen into quarrels. For while Euryanax and Pausanias were striving to turn Amompharetus from the hazard of staying behind, alone of the Lacedaemonians, and were in no way persuading him, they had fallen at last into open quarreling — and at that very moment the Athenian herald came and stood before them.

2In the thick of the quarrel Amompharetus took up a stone with both hands and set it down before Pausanias' feet, declaring that with this voting-pebble he cast his vote that they should not flee from the foreigners — "barbarians" was his word for them. Pausanias, calling him mad and out of his mind, told the Athenian herald, who was asking what message he was charged with, to report to the Athenians the straits they were in; and he asked the Athenians to come over and join them, and to act about the withdrawal as they themselves would act.

Chapter 56

1The herald departed for the Athenians; and while they were questioning one another dawn overtook them. All this while Pausanias sat — for he did not believe Amompharetus would stay behind when the rest of the Lacedaemonians marched away, which is in fact what happened — and then he gave the signal and led off all the rest through the hills; and the Tegeans followed after.

2The Athenians, once in marching order, went a different way from the Lacedaemonians: for these kept to the spurs of the hills and the lower slopes of Cithaeron for fear of the horse, while the Athenians, bending down and away, made for the plain.

Chapter 57

1Amompharetus at first, in no wise believing that Pausanias would dare to leave them behind, held his men about him and did not abandon his post; but when those with Pausanias were far ahead of him, he concluded that they were deliberately deserting him, and taking up his lochos under arms led it at a march toward the rest of the host;

2and these, having gone about ten stades, halted to wait for the lochos of Amompharetus, drawn up by the river Moloeis, in the place called Argiopium, where stands a temple of Demeter Eleusinian. They waited for this reason: that if Amompharetus and his lochos did not leave the ground where they had been posted but stayed where they were, they might come back to their relief.

3Amompharetus and his men came up with them there; and the whole cavalry of the foreigners pressed upon them. The horsemen were doing what they were always in the habit of doing; but when they saw the ground lying empty where the Greeks had been posted on the days before, they drove their horses ever forward, and the moment they overtook them they closed in upon them.

Chapter 58

1Mardonius, when he learned that the Greeks had gone off under cover of night, and saw the ground lying empty, called for Thorax of Larisa and his brothers Eurypylus and Thrasydeius and said:

2"Sons of Aleuas, what will you say now, seeing this emptiness? For you, who dwell as their neighbors, were the men who said that Lacedaemonians do not flee from battle, but are men first in all matters of war. Their first shifting of position you saw with your own eyes, and now in the night just gone we all see them run away; and they have made it plain, when the moment came for them to be proved in battle against men beyond all question the bravest alive, that they were nobodies after all, whose fame had been won among Greeks who were themselves nobodies.

3For you, knowing nothing of the Persians, I had much excuse, since you praised men of whom you had some knowledge; but for Artabazus my wonder was greater still, that he stood in such fear of the Lacedaemonians, and out of his fear took up the most cowardly opinion of all — that the army must break camp and march to the city of the Thebans to besiege it. Of that the king shall yet hear from me.

4Of these matters, however, there will be word in another place. Now these men must not be suffered to do this, but must be pursued until we catch them, and they pay us the penalty for all they have done to the Persians."

Chapter 59

1With these words he led the Persians forward at a run, crossing the Asopus on the track of the Greeks as though they were in flight, and pressed hard upon the Lacedaemonians and the Tegeans alone; for the Athenians, having turned toward the plain, were hidden from his sight by the spurs of the hills.

2The rest of the commanders of the foreign contingents, seeing the Persians setting out in pursuit of the Greeks, at once raised their standards, every one of them, and gave chase as fast as each man's legs could carry him, marshaled in no order and no array.

Chapter 60

1These came on with shouting and tumult, as though they would snatch the Greeks up in their very hands; and Pausanias, with the horse closing on him, sent a horseman to the Athenians, who said: "Men of Athens, with the greatest of all contests set before us — whether Hellas is to be free or enslaved — we, the Lacedaemonians and you the Athenians, have been betrayed by our allies, who slipped away in the night that is past.

2Now then, what must be done from this point is resolved upon: to defend ourselves with what strength we have and so shield one another. If the horse had fallen upon you first, it would have been right for us and for the Tegeans with us — who did not betray Hellas — to come to your aid; but as it is, since the whole weight of it has rolled upon us, it is right for you to come to the defense of the part that is pressed hardest.

3But if it should be that you are so caught you cannot help us, then send us your archers, and you will lay us under an obligation. We know well that of all men in this war now upon us you are the most zealous, and that you will grant even this."

Chapter 61

1When the Athenians heard this, they set out with all eagerness to bring help and shield them; but while they were already on their march, the Greeks arrayed against them, those who had served with the king, fell upon them, so that they could help no longer; for the Lacedaemonians were being sorely hurt by those who bore down upon them.

2So the Lacedaemonians and Tegeans were left alone, having light-armed men with them to the number of fifty thousand, while the Tegeans were three thousand — for these in no wise broke away from the Lacedaemonians — and they were sacrificing, about to join battle with Mardonius and the army with him.

3And the omens were not favorable to them; many fell in that time, and many more were wounded. For the Persians, fencing themselves in behind their wicker shields, loosed their arrows without stint in showers, until the Spartans, hard pressed and getting no favorable omens, made Pausanias turn his eyes toward the Heraion of the Plataeans and call upon the goddess, praying that they might in no wise be defrauded of their hope.

Chapter 62

1While he was still calling upon her, the Tegeans rose up first and advanced upon the foreigners, and at once after Pausanias' prayer the omens became fair to the Lacedaemonians as they sacrificed; and when this came about in time, they too advanced upon the Persians, and the Persians came to meet them, laying aside their bows.

2The fighting began at the wicker shields; and when these had been beaten down, the battle grew fierce by the very temple of Demeter and for a long stretch of time, until they came to close shoving; for the foreigners would seize hold of the Greek spears and snap them short.

3In daring and in strength the Persians were not inferior, but being without armor, and moreover without skill and no match for their enemies in craft, they would break out, singly or in tens, in greater or smaller knots, fling themselves upon the Spartans, and so be destroyed.

Chapter 63

1Where Mardonius himself chanced to be, fighting from a white horse and having about him a thousand picked Persians, the very best, there they pressed their enemies hardest of all. As long as Mardonius lived, they held firm, and defending themselves threw down many of the Lacedaemonians;

2but when Mardonius fell, and with him the company drawn about him, the strongest of all, then the rest turned and gave way before the Lacedaemonians. It was their dress, bare of armor, that cost them most dearly; for lightly armed, they stood to close quarters with men in heavy armor.

Chapter 64

1Here, then, the debt owed for Leonidas was paid out to the Spartans according to the oracle, and Pausanias son of Cleombrotus son of Anaxandrides won the most beautiful victory of all we know;

2as for his ancestors beyond these, their names I have already given down to Leonidas, for they are the same men. Mardonius died at the hands of Aeimnestus, a man of repute in Sparta, who long after the Median wars, leading three hundred men, joined battle at Stenyclerus when the whole Messenian people was at war with them, and there he himself perished and the three hundred with him.

Chapter 65

1At Plataea the Persians, once they were broken by the Lacedaemonians, fled in no order at all to their own camp and to the wooden wall they had built in the territory of Thebes.

2It is a wonder to me that, though the battle was fought by the grove of Demeter, not one of the Persians appeared either entering the sacred enclosure or dying in it; most fell about the temple, on the unconsecrated ground. My own thought is — if one must hold any thought at all about the workings of the divine — that the goddess herself refused to receive them, for that they had burned her sacred house at Eleusis.

Chapter 66

1So far, then, went this battle. Artabazus son of Pharnaces, who from the first did not at all approve of Mardonius' leaving the king, and now, though he spoke much against it, got nowhere, forbidding the battle, acted himself as follows, being ill pleased with what Mardonius was doing.

2Of the contingents Artabazus was general, and he had a force not small but some forty thousand men; and these, knowing well how the battle would end once it was joined, he led in good order, having given orders that all were to march at the pace he himself should set, so that they saw him in haste.

3Having given these orders he led the army forward, as it seemed, to battle; but when he had gone some way along the road, he saw that the Persians were fleeing; then he no longer advanced in that same order but broke into flight at topmost speed — not toward the wooden wall, nor toward the wall of the Thebans, but toward Phocis, wishing with all speed to reach the Hellespont.

Chapter 67

1These, then, turned that way; but of the other Greeks who served with the king and played the coward, the Boeotians fought the Athenians a long while; for the Thebans who had Medized had no little zeal in them, and fought with no thought of yielding, so that three hundred of them, the first and the bravest, fell there under Athenian hands. When these too turned, they fled to Thebes — not by the way the Persians and the whole mass of the other allies had fled, neither standing to fight anyone nor accomplishing anything, but in mere rout.

Chapter 68

1This shows me that all the fortunes of the foreigners hung upon the Persians; for even here these fled before ever they had closed with their enemies, at the mere sight of the Persians running — and so all fled, save only the horse, both the rest of it and the Boeotian; and the Boeotian horse did great service to the men in flight, for it kept ever closest to the enemy and gathered in their friends as they fled from the Greeks.

Chapter 69

1The victors followed on the heels of Xerxes' men, pursuing and killing. In the midst of this panic, word was brought to the other Greeks, those drawn up about the Heraion and left out of the battle, that the battle had been fought and that those with Pausanias were winning; and hearing it, they moved off with no order at all — the Corinthians and those with them by the foothills and the heights, the road that leads up toward the temple of Demeter, and the Megarians and Phliasians by the level of the plain, the smoothest of the ways.

2When the Megarians and Phliasians were drawing near the enemy, the Theban horsemen, seeing them coming on in disorder, drove their horses straight upon them — their commander was Asopodorus son of Timander — and falling upon them laid six hundred of them low, and drove the rest in rout toward Cithaeron.

Chapter 70

1These men, then, perished and went for nothing; but the Persians and the rest of the crowd, when they fled to the wooden wall, made good their climb upon the towers before the Lacedaemonians came up; and once up, they fenced the wall as best they knew how; and when the Lacedaemonians drew near, there began a wall-fight of great strength.

2For as long as the Athenians were away, the Persians held their own and had much the better of the Lacedaemonians, who did not know the craft of fighting a wall; but when the Athenians came up, the wall-fight grew fierce and lasted a long time; at the last, by valor and persistence, the Athenians mounted the wall and broke it open, and through the breach the Greeks streamed in.

3The first to enter within the wall were the Tegeans, and they were the men who plundered the tent of Mardonius, taking from it besides all else the manger of his horses, all of bronze and worth the seeing. This manger of Mardonius the Tegeans dedicated in the temple of Athena Alea; the rest of what they took they brought into the common stock of the Greeks.

4As for the foreigners, once the wall had fallen they made no stand at all, nor did any man of them remember courage; they were frantic, penned into a narrow space, terrified, with many myriads of men crowded in upon one another;

5so it was given to the Greeks to slay on and on, until of an army of three hundred thousand — not counting the forty thousand that Artabazus had away with him in his flight — not so many as three thousand survived. Of the Lacedaemonians from Sparta there fell in the battle all told ninety-one; of the Tegeans, sixteen; of the Athenians, fifty-two.

Chapter 71

1Of the foreigners the best fighting men were the Persian foot and the horse of the Sacae; and the single man said to have proved himself best was Mardonius. Of the Greeks, the Tegeans and the Athenians fought with distinction, but the Lacedaemonians outdid them all in valor.

2Of no others can I point to proof that they were bravest (for all of them conquered the men posted against them), save that these were drawn up against the strongest enemy and conquered even him. And by our judgment Aristodemus by far was judged the bravest — he who, alone of the three hundred, had come safe out of Thermopylae and bore the burden of disgrace and dishonor; and after him second in valor were Poseidonius and Philocyon and Amompharetus the Spartan.

3And yet, when the question was put which of these had proved himself the bravest, the Spartans who were present judged that Aristodemus — who clearly wished to die, to wipe out the fault that lay upon him, and in his frenzy left his post and performed deeds of the greatest note — was less than Poseidonius, who had no wish to die and yet became a brave man; and that this latter was by so much the better.

4But men might say this out of envy. So then: all who died in that battle they named with honor, save only Aristodemus; and Aristodemus, because he sought death for the fault I have told of, had no honor paid him.

Chapter 72

1These, then, were the most famous of the men at Plataea. Callicrates died outside the battle itself — a man who had come to the camp the handsomest of all the Greeks then gathered, not of the Lacedaemonians alone but of all the Greeks besides; and it was while Pausanias was sacrificing that he, sitting in his place in the line, took an arrow in the side and was wounded.

2While the others fought, Callicrates, carried out of the line, lay dying hard and lingering, and said to Arimnestus, a man of Plataea, that it grieved him not at all to be dying on behalf of Hellas, but that he had never once had the use of his hand, and that no deed had been wrought by him worthy of himself, for all his eagerness to do one.

Chapter 73

1Of the Athenians, Sophanes son of Eutychides, of the deme of Decelea, is said to have won great renown; and the Deceleans long ago performed a service that has stood the Athenians in stead for all time — so at least the Athenians themselves say.

2For when of old, at the carrying off of Helen, the Tyndaridae invaded the land of Attica with the full mass of an army and were throwing the demes into ruin, not knowing where Helen lay hidden, then, they say, the Deceleans guided them to Aphidnae, this man Deceles, aggrieved at the outrage of Theseus and in fear for the whole country of the Athenians, having shown them the whole business; Aphidnae, which Titacus, a man of the soil, had beforehand betrayed to the Tyndaridae.

3For this deed the Deceleans have held in Sparta, from that day to this, both exemption from dues and the seat of honor; so much so that even in the war that came later, many years after these things, between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians, when the Lacedaemonians were laying waste all the rest of Attica, they let Decelea alone.

Chapter 74

1Sophanes was of that deme; and though he proved himself the best of the Athenians that day, he has two stories told of him. One is that he wore, from the belt of his breastplate, an iron anchor fastened by a bronze chain, and that whenever he came close up to the enemy he would cast this down, so that the enemy, springing out of their post, could not shift him from his; and when the enemy took to flight, it was his way, taking up the anchor, so to pursue them.

2That is one story; the other, which disputes the first, says that he wore the anchor about his shield — a shield that swung about him always and never stood still — and not fastened with iron from his breastplate.

Chapter 75

1There is another shining deed to Sophanes' credit: that when the Athenians were cooped up in Aegina, he slew Eurybates the Argive, a man victorious in all five contests, in answer to a challenge given. Sophanes himself, in a later time than this, when he had become a man of valor, was general of the Athenians together with Leagrus son of Glaucon, and met his death at the hands of the Edonians at Datum, fighting over the gold mines.

Chapter 76

1When the foreigners lay slain upon the ground at Plataea, there came up to the Greeks a woman who had deserted. As soon as she learned that the Persians were destroyed and the Greeks winning, she — she had been the concubine of Pharandates son of Teaspis, a Persian — adorned herself, and her maidservants with her, with much gold, and in the finest raiment of all that were there; and coming down from her carriage she walked toward the Lacedaemonians while they were still in the thick of the killing. And seeing that Pausanias was directing everything there, and knowing beforehand both his name and his country, as one who had often heard of them, she recognized Pausanias, and taking hold of his knees spoke these words:

2"King of Sparta, rescue me, your suppliant, from the slavery that awaits a prisoner of war; for you have profited even by this, in destroying these men, who had no respect for the sight of divine beings or of gods. I am by birth a woman of Cos, daughter of Hegiatorides son of Antagoras; the Persian seized me by force in Cos and kept me." He answered her in these words:

3"Woman, take courage, both as a suppliant, and if indeed it is true besides that you are the daughter of Hegiatorides of Cos — for he is the closest guest-friend I have among all who dwell in those parts." With this he spoke; for the moment he gave her into the keeping of the Ephors who were present, and later he sent her away to Aegina, to the very place she wished to go.

Chapter 77

1After the woman's departure, immediately upon this the Mantineans came, after all the work was done; and learning that they had arrived too late for the battle, they made great mourning for themselves and declared that they deserved to be fined.

2Then, inquiring where the Medes were who had fled with Artabazus, they pursued these as far as Thessaly; the Lacedaemonians, however, would not let them chase the rest of the men in flight. So they, withdrawing to their own land, drove out of it the commanders of their army.

3After the Mantineans came the Eleans, and in the same way the Eleans, after mourning like the Mantineans, went away; and on their return they too drove out their commanders. So much for the doings of the Mantineans and Eleans.

Chapter 78

1At Plataea, in the camp of the Aeginetans, was Lampon son of Pytheas, who stood first among the Aeginetans; he came to Pausanias carrying a most unholy proposal, and coming up in haste he said:

2"Son of Cleombrotus, you have wrought a deed beyond measure for greatness and beauty, and the god has given you, with the saving of Hellas, the laying up of the greatest glory of the Greeks we know. Do now the rest of what follows upon this, so that your fame may be greater still, and that hereafter some foreigner may take care never again to attempt wanton deeds against the Greeks.

3For when Leonidas died at Thermopylae, Mardonius and Xerxes cut off his head and impaled it; do you the like to him, and you will have praise first from all the Spartans, and then from the other Greeks besides; for by impaling Mardonius you will exact vengeance for your forefather Leonidas."

Chapter 79

1He, thinking to please, said this; and the other made answer in these words: "Stranger of Aegina, I admire your goodwill and your foresight, but in judgment you have gone astray from what is good; for lifting me on high — my country and my deed — you have cast me down to nothing, counseling me to outrage a dead body, and telling me I shall be better spoken of if I do it. Such things are more fitting for foreigners to do than for Greeks;

2and even these we blame. Now then, that I may please neither the Aeginetans nor those who take pleasure in such things, it is enough for me, by doing holy deeds and speaking holy words, to please the Spartans. Leonidas, whom you bid me avenge, I count already greatly avenged; requital for him, and for the others who met their end at Thermopylae, has been made out of the countless souls of these men here. But do you, with such a word as this, neither come near me again nor offer me counsel; and know that you go with my thanks — and unharmed."

Chapter 80

1Having heard this, he departed. Pausanias made proclamation that no man was to lay hands on the spoils, and ordered the helots to gather in the treasure; and they, scattering through the camp, found tents furnished with gold and silver, couches plated with gold and with silver, and bowls of gold, and phials, and other drinking-cups;

2on the wagons they found sacks, and in them appeared cauldrons of gold and of silver; and from the bodies of the dead they stripped armlets and neck-rings and scimitars, all of gold; but of embroidered raiment no man made any count at all.

3Thereupon the helots stole much and sold it to the Aeginetans, and brought to light much of what they could not conceal; and so it was that the great wealth of the Aeginetans had its beginning here, from buying gold from the helots as if it were mere bronze.

Chapter 81

1When they had gathered the treasure in, they took out a tithe for the god at Delphi, from which was dedicated the golden tripod that stands upon the three-headed serpent of bronze, close by the altar; and a tithe for the god at Olympia, from which was set up a bronze Zeus ten cubits high; and a tithe for the god at the Isthmus, from which was made a bronze Poseidon seven cubits high. Taking these out, they divided what was left, and each man took according to his desert, together with the concubines of the Persians, and the gold and the silver and the other treasure and the beasts of burden.

2How much was set apart and given to those who had proved themselves best at Plataea is told by no one; I myself think it was given to these men too; but for Pausanias ten of everything were taken out and given — women, horses, talents, camels — and in like manner the rest of the treasure.

Chapter 82

1This too is said to have come to pass: that Xerxes, in his flight out of Hellas, left his own household furnishing behind with Mardonius; and Pausanias, seeing Mardonius' furnishing set out with gold and silver and figured hangings, ordered the bakers and the cooks to make ready a dinner in every way as they had made it for Mardonius.

2When these men did as they were ordered, then Pausanias, seeing the couches of gold and of silver richly spread and the tables of gold and of silver and the magnificence of the dinner's service, and marveling at the good things laid out before him, in mockery ordered his own servants to make ready a Spartan dinner.

3When the meal had been made and there was a great gulf between the two, Pausanias laughed and sent for the generals of the Greeks; and when they had come together, pointing to each of the two services of dinner, he said: "Men of Greece, it was for this I gathered you here: because I wished you to see the folly of this commander of the Medes, who with such a manner of living as this came to take it away from us, men who live so poorly." This, they say, is what Pausanias said to the generals of the Greeks.

Chapter 83

1Yet in later time, after this, many of the Plataeans too found coffers of gold and of silver and of other treasure.

2And this too came to light later than these things, when the flesh had been stripped from the dead; for the Plataeans were gathering the bones together into one place. There was found a skull that had no seam at all but was all of one single bone; and there appeared a jaw with the upper teeth, both the front teeth and the molars, every one grown from a single bone; and there appeared as well the bones of a man five cubits tall.

Chapter 84

1On the second day the body of Mardonius vanished; by whose hand of men it vanished, exactly, I cannot say; I have heard many men already, of every sort, say that they buried Mardonius, and I know that many received great gifts from Artontes son of Mardonius for this work;

2but which of them it was who took up and buried Mardonius' body, I am not able to learn for certain. There is a tale, besides, that Dionysophanes, an Ephesian, was the man who buried Mardonius. In this manner, then, was he buried.

Chapter 85

1The Greeks, when they had divided the spoil at Plataea, buried their own dead, each people by itself. The Lacedaemonians made three graves; in one of them they laid the irenes, the captains of their companies, among whom were Poseidonius and Amompharetus and Philocyon and Callicrates;

2in one of the graves lay the irenes, in the second the other Spartans, and in the third the helots. Thus these buried their dead; the Tegeans buried theirs apart, all together; the Athenians, their own all in one place; and the Megarians and Phliasians, those of theirs whom the horse had destroyed.

3These graves, then, were all full; but the other mounds that can be seen to this day at Plataea, these, as I learn, were heaped up with mounds of earth, each man being ashamed at standing apart from the battle, and for the sake of the people who came after; for there is even a grave there called the Aeginetans', which — so I hear — was heaped up ten years after these things, at the request of the Aeginetans, by Cleadas son of Autodicus, a man of Plataea, who was their guest-friend.

Chapter 86

1When the Greeks had buried their dead at Plataea, they at once took counsel, and it seemed good to them to march upon Thebes and demand from the Thebans the men who had Medized, first and foremost Timagenidas and Attaginus, who had been leaders of it all from the first; and if the Thebans would not give them up, not to depart from the city before they had taken them.

2This resolved, on the eleventh day after the battle they came and besieged the Thebans, calling on them to give up the men; and when the Thebans were unwilling to give them up, they kept cutting down their land and assaulting their wall.

Chapter 87

1Nor did they cease from harassing them; and on the twentieth day Timagenidas spoke to the Thebans: "Men of Thebes, since this is what the Greeks have resolved — not to break off the siege before they either take Thebes itself or you give us up to them — now then, let the land of Boeotia not be made to bear any more on our account:

2but if, wanting money, they demand us as a pretext, let us give them money from the common store — for it was together with the common folk that we Medized; we were not alone — but if they are besieging you truly for our sakes, we will deliver ourselves up to answer them." This seemed to them very well said and seasonable; and immediately the Thebans sent a herald to Pausanias, wishing to give up the men.

Chapter 88

1When this was agreed upon, Attaginus escaped out of the city; but his children were brought before Pausanias, and he released them from the charge, declaring that children were no accessories in the matter of the Medism. As for the other men whom the Thebans gave up, these had reckoned on winning the chance to plead their case, and had trusted besides to buy themselves off with money; but he, once he had received them, suspecting precisely this, dismissed the whole army of the allies, and taking the men away to Corinth put them to death. Such, then, were the doings at Plataea and at Thebes.

Chapter 89

1Artabazus son of Pharnaces, in his flight from Plataea, was by now far on his road. When he came among them, the Thessalians called him to hospitality and asked him about the rest of the army, knowing nothing of what had happened at Plataea.

2Artabazus, however, saw that if he chose to tell them the whole truth of what had been fought, he himself would run the risk of destruction, and the army with him; for he supposed that whoever asked about what had happened meant to fall upon him. Reasoning thus, he told the Phocians nothing, and to the Thessalians he spoke as follows:

3"Men of Thessaly, as you see, I am hurrying with all speed to get away to Thrace, and am in haste, being sent on some business from the camp with these men here; but Mardonius himself and his army you may look for close on my heels. Entertain him and show yourselves good men; for you will never repent the doing of it."

4With these words he drove his army onward in haste through Thessaly and Macedonia, straight for Thrace, truly pressed now, cutting straight across country from the road; and he came to Byzantium, leaving many of his army behind on the way, cut down by the Thracians, or broken by hunger and toil; and out of Byzantium he crossed over in ships. This man, then, made his way back to Asia.

Chapter 90

1On the very same day on which the blow fell at Plataea, it so happened that a battle was fought at Mycale in Ionia as well. For when the Greeks in the ships, come with Leotychides the Lacedaemonian, had put in at Delos, messengers came to them from Samos — Lampon son of Thrasycles, and Athenagoras son of Archestratides, and Hegesistratus son of Aristagoras — sent secretly by the Samians, past the Persians and past the tyrant Theomestor son of Androdamas, whom the Persians had set up as tyrant of Samos.

2Coming before the generals, Hegesistratus spoke much and of many things: that if the Ionians but saw them once, they would revolt from the Persians, and that the foreigners would not stand to fight; and that even if they did stand, the Greeks would find no such quarry anywhere else; and calling to witness the gods in common he pressed them to deliver Greek men out of slavery and to drive back the foreigner;

3and he told them these things would be easy: for the foreign ships sailed badly and would be no match for theirs in battle; and the Samians themselves, if the Greeks suspected at all that they were being led on by a trick, were ready, brought on board their very ships, to be hostages.

Chapter 91

1When the Samian stranger had pled long, Leotychides asked him — whether because he wished to learn it for an omen's sake, or because it so chanced by the ordering of the god — "Stranger of Samos, what is your name?" And he said, "Hegesistratus."

2And Leotychides, catching up the rest of the word before Hegesistratus could set out whatever he meant to say, answered: "I accept the omen of Hegesistratus, stranger of Samos. But do you see to it that, giving us your pledge yourself first, you sail away, and these others who are with you, with the sure promise that the Samians will be zealous allies to us."

Chapter 92

1Even as he spoke these words, so he pressed the deed on; and at once the Samians gave pledges and swore oaths of alliance with the Greeks.

2This done, they put out to sea; for Hegesistratus bade them sail off with them, making an omen of the name.

Chapter 93

1The Greeks stayed in place that day, and on the day after they performed the rites of sacrifice, Deiphonus son of Euenius, a man of Apollonia, divining for them — the Apollonia that stands in the Ionian gulf. A thing of this kind befell that man's father Euenius. In this Apollonia there are sheep sacred to the Sun, which by day graze beside the river Chonas, a river that runs from Mount Lacmon through the Apollonian country to the sea, past the harbor of Oricum; and by night they are guarded by men chosen, the most approved of the citizens for wealth and for birth, each of whom keeps the watch for one year; for the Apolloniates hold these sheep in very great honor because of a certain oracle; and the watchmen lodge at night in a cave, apart from the city.

2There, then, kept this Euenius, being chosen to the watch. Once, when he had fallen asleep over it, wolves got into the cave and destroyed some sixty of the sheep; and he, when the loss came upon him, kept it in silence and told no one, purposing to buy others in their place.

3But the thing did not escape the Apolloniates; and when they learned of it, they brought him before a court of justice and condemned him, for having lulled the watch to sleep, to be deprived of his sight. No sooner had they blinded Euenius than from that moment neither did their sheep bear young, nor did the earth yield them its fruit as before.

4It was made plain to them both at Dodona and at Delphi; for when they asked the seers the cause of the evil upon them, these declared to them that they had unjustly deprived Euenius, keeper of the sacred sheep, of his sight; that the gods themselves had set the wolves upon the flock; and that they would not cease from taking vengeance on his behalf until the Apolloniates paid him satisfaction for what they had done, of the kind he himself should choose and hold just; and that when this was done, the gods themselves would give Euenius a gift of such a kind that many among men would count him blessed.

Chapter 94

1Such were the oracles given them; and the Apolloniates, keeping them secret, appointed men of their citizens to manage the business. These managed it thus: while Euenius sat at home on his seat, they came and sat beside him and made talk of other matters, until at the last they came round to mourning with him over his misfortune; and leading the talk on that way, they asked what satisfaction he would choose, if the Apolloniates were willing to submit and pay for what they had done.

2He, who had not heard the oracle, made his choice, saying that if anyone would give him the lands — naming those citizens whose two estates he knew to be the fairest in Apollonia — and along with these a house, the finest in the city, then once he came into possession of these, he would carry no anger for all the rest, and this satisfaction, paid him, would be enough.

3This was his word; but the men sitting beside him took it up and answered: "Euenius, the Apolloniates pay you this satisfaction for your blinding, according to the oracles that were given." At this he was beside himself with dismay, learning from that moment the whole story, how he had been cheated; but they bought the property from its owners and gave him what he had chosen. And after this he straightway had the gift of prophecy, inborn in him, so that he became a man of name.

Chapter 95

1This Deiphonus was son of this same Euenius, and it was he who divined for the army, brought along by the Corinthians. Now this too I have heard already: that Deiphonus, riding on the name of Euenius, was taking hire all over Greece, though he was not Euenius' son at all.

Chapter 96

1When the Greeks had made an end of the sacrifice, they brought their ships up from Delos toward Samos; and when they were come to the Samian shore at Calamisa, some of them anchored there by the Heraion and made ready for a battle at sea; but the Persians, learning that they were coming, brought their own ships up to the mainland — all except the Phoenician ships, which they sent away, bidding them sail off; for in council it had seemed good to them not to fight at sea:

2for they did not think themselves a match for the Greeks. They sailed toward the mainland so as to lie under the shelter of their land army at Mycale, which had been left behind from the rest of the host at Xerxes' command to guard Ionia — in numbers sixty thousand men, with Tigranes for its general, a Persian who surpassed the rest in beauty and in stature.

3Under the shelter of this army the commanders of the fleet resolved to take refuge: to haul their ships ashore, and throw about them a palisade, a refuge for the ships and for themselves alike.

Chapter 97

1With this resolve they hauled their ships up; and coming to the temple of the Potniae of Mycale, at Gaesa and Scolopoeia — the temple of Demeter Eleusinian, which Philistus son of Pasicles founded, when he followed Neileus son of Codrus to the founding of Miletus — here they drew up their ships and threw about them a rampart of stones and of timber, cutting down cultivated trees for it, and drove stakes round about the wall; and they made ready both to endure a siege and to win the day, for they made ready looking to either issue.

Chapter 98

1The Greeks, when they learned that the foreigners had gone off to the mainland, were distressed that they had escaped, and were at a loss what to do—whether to withdraw and sail back home or to make for the Hellespont. In the end they resolved to do neither of these, but to sail against the mainland.

2They made ready, then, for a sea battle, with boarding bridges and everything else they needed, and sailed for Mycale. When they came close to the camp and no one appeared to put out against them, but they saw the ships hauled up inside the wall and a great body of foot drawn up along the shore, then first of all Leotychides, sailing past in his ship and hugging the beach as closely as he could, proclaimed to the Ionians through a herald, saying

3"Men of Ionia, those of you who happen to hear me, mark what I say; for the Persians will understand nothing of the orders I am giving you. When we join battle, some of you must remember, first and foremost, freedom, and next, the watchword Hebe. And let those of you who did not hear learn this from those who did.

4The purpose of this is the same as that of Themistocles' message at Artemisium; for either the words would escape the foreigners' notice and persuade the Ionians, or, being reported to the foreigners, would make them distrust the Greeks."

Chapter 99

1After Leotychides had made this suggestion, the Greeks next did as follows: bringing their ships to shore, they disembarked on the beach. These drew up in order of battle; and the Persians, seeing the Greeks preparing for battle and exhorting the Ionians, first suspected that the Samians were minded to favor the Greeks, and took away their arms.

2For when Athenian captives arrived in the foreigners' ships—men whom the army of Xerxes had left behind in Attica, having taken them there—the Samians ransomed them all and sent them on to Athens after provisioning them for the way; and it was on this account, that they had ransomed five hundred heads of Xerxes' enemies, that they were held in suspicion above all.

3Second, they ordered the Milesians to guard the paths leading up to the heights of Mycale, as knowing the country best of all, or so they gave out. They did this so that the Milesians would be outside the camp. Of the Ionians, those whom they suspected would be likely to attempt some change if they got the chance, the Persians guarded against by such means as these; and they themselves heaped up the wicker shields to make a wall for themselves.

Chapter 100

1When the Greeks were ready, they advanced against the foreigners; and as they went, a rumor flew into the whole army, and a herald's staff was seen lying on the surf line. The report that came to them was this: that the Greeks had defeated the army of Mardonius in battle in Boeotia.

2That the divine ordering of human affairs is real is shown plainly by many proofs, and it was shown then: the defeat at Plataea and the one about to happen at Mycale fell on the same day, and a report came to the Greeks there, so that the army took heart far more and was readier to face the danger.

Chapter 101

1Another coincidence too: precincts of Demeter of Eleusis stood at both the encounters; for indeed at Plataea the battle took place right beside the Demetrion, as I have said before, and at Mycale it was destined to happen in the same way.

2That the victory belonged to the Greeks with Pausanias, the report that came to them proved true; for the battle at Plataea took place early in the day, while the one at Mycale was toward evening; but that they fell out on the same day and in the same month the men there learned clearly not long afterward, when they looked into the matter.

3Before the report came, their fear was not so much for themselves as for the Greeks—that Hellas might stumble and fall before Mardonius. But when this word flew to them, they made their approach with more spirit and with greater speed. Both Greeks and foreigners pressed eagerly on to the battle, since the islands and the Hellespont lay before them as the prize.

Chapter 102

1To the Athenians and those stationed next to them, as far as about half the line, the way lay along the beach and level ground; but to the Lacedaemonians and those stationed next after them, along ravines and mountains. And while the Lacedaemonians were making the circuit, those on the other wing were already engaged in battle.

2As long as the Persians' wicker shields stood upright, they held their ground and were no worse off in the battle; but when the army of the Athenians and their neighbors—eager that the work should be theirs and not the Lacedaemonians'—urged one another on and fell to with more spirit, from that moment the tide of the fight began to turn.

3Breaking through the wicker shields, these men charged in a body upon the Persians; the Persians received them and defended themselves for a long time, but in the end fled to the wall. The Athenians and Corinthians and Sicyonians and Troezenians (for in that order they were stationed) followed close and burst with them into the wall. When the wall too had been taken, the foreigners no longer turned to stand, but all save the Persians took to flight;

4and the Persians, gathering in small bands, fought with those of the Greeks who kept bursting into the wall. Of the Persian generals two escaped and two fell: Artayntes and Ithamitres, who commanded the fleet, escaped; Mardontes and Tigranes, the general of the land army, fell fighting.

Chapter 103

1While the Persians were still fighting, the Lacedaemonians and those with them arrived and helped finish the rest. Many of the Greeks themselves fell there, among them Sicyonians and their general Perilaus;

2and of the Samians, those serving in the Median camp who had been stripped of their arms, when they saw from the very start that the battle was swaying to and fro, did all they could to help the Greeks. When the other Ionians saw the Samians lead the way, they too revolted from the Persians and attacked the foreigners.

Chapter 104

1The Milesians had been assigned by the Persians to guard the paths, for the safety of their own army—so that, if the Persians were overtaken by what did in fact overtake them, they might have guides and escape to the heights of Mycale. The Milesians were posted to this task both for that reason and so that they might not be present in the camp and attempt some change; but they did quite the opposite of what had been ordered: they guided the fugitives along other paths that led straight to the enemy, and in the end they themselves became their bitterest killers. In this way Ionia revolted from the Persians for the second time.

Chapter 105

1In this battle the bravest of the Greeks were the Athenians, and of the Athenians Hermolycus son of Euthynus, a man who had trained for the pancratium. This Hermolycus was afterward, when the Athenians were at war with the Carystians, killed in a battle at Cyrnus in the Carystian country, and lies buried at Geraestus. After the Athenians, the bravest were the Corinthians and the Troezenians and the Sicyonians.

Chapter 106

1When the Greeks had made an end of most of the foreigners, some fighting and some in flight, they set fire to the ships and to the whole wall, after first carrying the spoil out to the beach; and they found some stores of treasure as well. Then, having burned the wall and the ships, they sailed away.

2When the Greeks came to Samos, they took counsel about the removal of Ionia, and about where in Greece, of the lands they themselves controlled, they should settle the Ionians, leaving Ionia to the foreigners. For it seemed to them impossible to keep watch over Ionia themselves, standing guard for all time; and if they did not stand guard, they had no hope that the Ionians would come off unscathed at the hands of the Persians.

3Against this the leading men of the Peloponnesians held that they should drive out the trading towns of the Greek peoples that had medized and give the land to the Ionians to live in; but the Athenians would not have Ionia made desolate at all, nor allow the Peloponnesians to take counsel about their own colonies; and since the Athenians held out eagerly, the Peloponnesians gave way.

4And so they took the Samians and the Chians and the Lesbians and the other islanders who happened to be campaigning with the Greeks into the league, binding them by pledges and oaths to stand firm and not revolt. Having bound them by oaths, they sailed to break up the bridges; for they still expected to find them in place. These, then, sailed for the Hellespont.

Chapter 107

1Of the foreigners who had escaped to the heights of Mycale and been driven there, being not many, the journey was made to Sardis. As they traveled along the road, Masistes son of Darius, coming upon the disaster that had befallen them, said many harsh things to the general Artayntes, calling him worse than a woman among other things for having commanded as he did, and saying that he deserved every evil for bringing harm on the king's house. Among the Persians, to be told that one is worse than a woman is the greatest of insults.

2Artayntes, when he had heard much of this, took it as an outrage and drew his acinaces against Masistes, meaning to kill him. But when he saw him rushing at him, Xenagoras son of Praxilaus, a man of Halicarnassus, standing behind Artayntes, seized him around the middle and lifting him up dashed him to the ground; and meanwhile the spear-bearers of Masistes took their stand in front of him.

3Xenagoras did this to lay up gratitude both with Masistes and with Xerxes, in saving that man's brother; and for this deed Xenagoras was made ruler of all Cilicia by the king's gift. Nothing more came of the travelers on their road, but they arrived at Sardis.

Chapter 108

1The king happened to be staying at Sardis from that time on, ever since he had fled there after coming off worsted in the sea battle at Athens. Now while he was at Sardis he fell in love with the wife of Masistes, who also happened to be there. When by his messages he could not win her over—and he did not use force either, having regard for his brother Masistes—the woman felt the same about him; for she knew well that she would not be forced. Xerxes then, blocked from every other course, arranged this marriage for his own son Darius with the daughter of this woman and Masistes, thinking that in this way he would the more readily obtain the woman.

2Having arranged the match and performed the customary rites, he departed for Susa; and when he had arrived there and brought the woman into his own house as the wife of Darius, he then left off from the wife of Masistes; but changing course, he fell in love with and won the woman who was the wife of Darius and the daughter of Masistes. The name of this woman was Artaynte.

Chapter 109

1As time went on, the matter came to light in this way. Amestris, the wife of Xerxes, wove a great and richly worked robe, a sight worth seeing, and gave it to Xerxes. He was delighted, put it on, and went to Artaynte.

2Delighted with her as well, he told her to ask for whatever she wanted as a reward for the favors she had done him; for whatever she asked, he said, she would get. It was fated that she should come to grief with her whole house; so she said to Xerxes, "Will you give me whatever I ask you for?" He, thinking she would ask for anything rather than that, promised and swore it. And when he had sworn, she asked without fear for the robe.

3Xerxes turned every way to avoid giving it, for no other reason than that he feared Amestris, lest he be found out, since she was already guessing at what was being done. He offered her a city, and gold beyond measure, and an army of which no one should be commander but she—an army being a gift of great price among the Persians. But as he could not persuade her, he gave the robe. She, overjoyed at the gift, wore it and gloried in it.

Chapter 110

1Amestris learned that she had the robe; and when she understood what was being done, she bore no grudge against this woman, but suspecting that the woman's mother was the cause and that it was she who was contriving it, she plotted destruction for the wife of Masistes.

2She watched for her husband Xerxes to set forth the royal banquet—for this banquet is prepared once a year, on the day when the king was born. The name of this banquet in Persian is tykta, and in the Greek tongue it means perfect. On that day alone the king anoints his head and gives gifts to the Persians. Amestris waited for that day and asked Xerxes that the wife of Masistes be given to her.

3He thought it a monstrous and unholy thing, both to hand over his brother's wife and to do so when she was innocent of this business; for he understood well enough why she was asking.

Chapter 111

1In the end, however, with her pressing him and with the law constraining him—for when the royal banquet is set out it is not possible for the one who asks to be refused—he consented, most unwillingly; and having given her up he did as follows. He bade the woman do as she wished, and sending for his brother he spoke as follows.

2"Masistes, you are a son of Darius and my brother, and besides this you are a good man. Do not live with this woman who is now your wife; instead of her I give you my own daughter. Live with her. The woman you have now—she is not to my mind; do not keep her as your wife."

3Masistes, astonished at what was said, answered: "Master, what useless course do you propose, bidding me put away a woman by whom I have young sons and daughters, one of whom you yourself took as a wife for your own son, and who is entirely to my mind? Do you bid me leave her and marry your daughter?

4For my part, O king, I count it a great thing to be judged worthy of your daughter; yet I will do neither of these things. Do not force me to a thing like this. Another man will be found for your daughter no worse than I; and let me live with the wife I have."

5With such words he answered; but Xerxes in anger said: "This is how it stands for you, Masistes: I will not give you my daughter to marry, nor will you live with that woman much longer, so that you may learn to accept what is offered." When Masistes heard this, he said only so much and went out: "No, master—you have not yet destroyed me."

Chapter 112

1Meanwhile, in the interval while Xerxes was talking with his brother, Amestris, having sent for the bodyguards of Xerxes, wreaked a horrible mutilation on the wife of Masistes: she cut off her breasts and threw them to the dogs, and cutting out her nose and ears and lips and tongue sent her home mutilated.

Chapter 113

1Masistes, who had yet heard nothing of this, but suspecting that some harm was afoot, rushed into his house at the run. Seeing his wife destroyed, straightaway after this he took counsel with his sons and set out for Bactria, together with his own sons and indeed some others as well, meaning to raise the province of Bactria in revolt and to do the king the greatest harm;

2and this is what would have come about, as I think, if he had reached the Bactrians and the Sacae first; for they loved him, and he was viceroy of Bactria. But Xerxes, learning what he was about, sent an army against him, and on the road killed both him and his sons and his army. So much came of the passion of Xerxes and the death of Masistes.

Chapter 114

1The Greeks who had set out from Mycale for the Hellespont first came to anchor at Lectum, being held back by winds; from there they arrived at Abydos and found the bridges broken up, which they had expected to find still in place—and it was for this above all that they had come to the Hellespont.

2To Leotychides and the Peloponnesians it seemed best to sail back to Greece; but the Athenians and their general Xanthippus resolved to stay and try their fortune in the Chersonese. So the one party sailed away, and the Athenians, crossing from Abydos to the Chersonese, laid siege to Sestos.

Chapter 115

1To this Sestos, as it was the strongest of the walls in those parts, there gathered, when they heard that the Greeks were at the Hellespont, people from the other towns round about, and among them from the city of Cardia Oeobazus, a Persian, who had brought there the cables from the bridges. It was held by the Aeolians of the country, and there were present also Persians and a great crowd of their other allies.

Chapter 116

1The viceroy of this province under Xerxes was Artayctes, a Persian, a man both violent and reckless, who had even cheated the king on his march against Athens, making off with the possessions of Protesilaus son of Iphiclus from Elaeus.

2For at Elaeus in the Chersonese is the tomb and precinct of Protesilaus, where there were many possessions—golden and silver bowls, bronze, raiment, and other dedications—which Artayctes plundered with the king's sanction. And by the following words he deceived Xerxes:

3"Master, there is here the house of a Greek man who made war on your land and met the end he deserved. Give me this house, so that men may learn not to make war on your land." By saying this he easily persuaded Xerxes to give him a man's house, Xerxes suspecting nothing of what he had in mind. When he said that Protesilaus had made war on the king's land, he meant this: the Persians hold that all Asia is theirs and belongs to the king who reigns at any time. When it was granted him, he carried the property out of Elaeus to Sestos, and sowed the precinct and grazed it; and whenever he came to Elaeus he consorted with women in the sanctuary itself. Now he was besieged by the Athenians, having made no preparation for a siege nor expecting the Greeks, but they had fallen upon him unawares.

Chapter 117

1As autumn came on while they were still under siege, the Athenians grew weary, being far from home and unable to take the wall, and begged their generals to lead them back; but the generals said they would not, until either they had taken the wall or the Athenian state sent for them. So the men made their peace with the situation as it stood.

Chapter 118

1Those inside the wall had by now been reduced to every kind of misery, so much so that they boiled the ropes of their couches and ate them. When even this failed them, under cover of night the Persians, and Artayctes and Oeobazus, made off, getting down behind the wall where it was least guarded by the enemy.

2When day came, the Chersonesites signaled to the Athenians from the towers what had happened and opened the gates. Of the Athenians, the greater number gave chase, while the rest held the city.

Chapter 119

1Oeobazus, as he fled into Thrace, was captured by the Apsinthian Thracians and sacrificed to Pleistorus, the god of that country, after their own custom; and those with him they killed in another manner.

2Those with Artayctes took to flight later, and when they were overtaken, being few in number, above Aegospotami, they defended themselves for a long while; some were killed, and some were taken alive. The Greeks bound them and led them to Sestos, and among them Artayctes as well, in bonds, both himself and his son.

Chapter 120

1It is said that a portent like this appeared to one of the guards, a man of the Chersonese, as he was roasting salt fish: the fish, lying on the fire, leaped and twitched as freshly caught fish do.

2The men crowded round and marveled; but Artayctes, when he saw the portent, called to the man roasting the fish and said: "Stranger of Athens, do not be afraid of this portent; for it has not appeared to you, but Protesilaus of Elaeus is showing me that even though he is dead and but salted fish, he has power from the gods to punish the man who wrongs him.

3Now, then, I am willing to pay this ransom: for the money I took from the shrine I will lay down a hundred talents for the god, and for myself and my son I will pay two hundred talents to the Athenians, if I get away."

4Though he promised this, he did not persuade the general Xanthippus; for the men of Elaeus, seeking to avenge Protesilaus, begged him to make an end of Artayctes, and the general's own mind was inclined that way. They led him off to the place where Xerxes yoked the strait—or, as some say, to the hill above the city of Madytus—and nailing him to planks, they hanged him; and his son they stoned to death before his eyes.

Chapter 121

1When they had done this, they sailed back to Greece, carrying the rest of the treasure and also the cables of the bridges, to dedicate them in the temples. And in this year nothing more than this came to pass.

Chapter 122

1The grandfather of this Artayctes who was hanged was Artembares, who set before the Persians a proposal that they, approving it, laid before Cyrus, speaking as follows:

2"Since Zeus has given leadership to the Persians, and of men to you, Cyrus, now that you have brought down Astyages—come, for the land we hold is little and rough at that—let us move out of it and win a better one. There are many lands that border ours, and many more lying farther off; and if we win one of them, we shall be more admired for it. It is fitting for men who rule to act so; for when, tell me, will the chance be finer than now, when we rule over many men and over all of Asia?"

3Cyrus heard this, and though he did not think much of the proposal, he told them to do it—but with this counsel, bidding them make ready to be no longer rulers but ruled; for soft lands, he said, breed soft men; it is not the way of one and the same land to bear both wonderful crops and men who are good in war.

4So the Persians acknowledged that he was right and departed, abandoning the plan, defeated in argument by Cyrus; they chose to rule, dwelling in a harsh land, rather than to sow the plains and be slaves to others.

Chapter 1

1When Alexander came back and reported the Athenians' answer, Mardonius set out from Thessaly and led his army in haste against Athens. Wherever he arrived, he took over the people of that place. The leading men of Thessaly did not regret anything they had done before, and they pushed the Persian on even more. Thorax of Larissa, who had helped Xerxes get away, now openly gave Mardonius passage against Greece.

Chapter 2

1When the army on its march reached Boeotia, the Thebans met with Mardonius and advised him. They said that there was no place better suited for him to camp in than this one, and they would not let him go any further. He should settle where he was and find a way to bring all of Greece under his control without a battle.

2For by main force, they said, Greeks who are of one mind, as they were before too, are hard to defeat, hard for everyone in the world. But if you do what we advise, they told him, you will get hold of all their strong plans without any effort.

3Send money to the men who hold power in the cities. By sending it you will split Greece apart, and then you will easily defeat, with the help of the men who side with you, those who do not share your views.

Chapter 3

1They gave him this advice, but he would not listen. A terrible desire had taken hold of him to take Athens a second time. This was partly out of stubbornness, and partly because he thought he could signal with beacons across the islands to the king, who was in Sardis, that he held Athens.

2But when he reached Attica, he once more failed to find the Athenians. He learned that most of them were on Salamis and in the ships, and he took the city empty. The king's capture of it came ten months before the invasion of Mardonius.

Chapter 4

1When Mardonius reached Athens, he sent Murychides, a man from the Hellespont, to Salamis, carrying the same message that Alexander of Macedon had brought across to the Athenians.

2He sent this message for the second time not out of any friendly feeling toward the Athenians. He hoped that they would give up their stubbornness, now that the land of Attica had been taken by force of arms and was under his control.

Chapter 5

1For these reasons he sent Murychides to Salamis. When Murychides arrived, he came before the council and gave Mardonius' message. One of the councilors, Lycides, proposed that it seemed to him better to accept the offer that Murychides was putting before them and to bring it before the people's assembly.

2That was the opinion he put forward, either because he had taken money from Mardonius or because this seemed right to him. The Athenians, both the councilors and those outside as soon as they heard of it, were at once outraged. They surrounded Lycides and stoned him to death, and they sent Murychides of the Hellespont away unharmed.

3When the uproar over Lycides broke out in Salamis, the Athenian women heard what was happening. One woman called to another, and they set off on their own for Lycides' house, where they stoned to death his wife and his children.

Chapter 6

1This is how the Athenians crossed over to Salamis. As long as they expected that an army would come from the Peloponnese to help them, they stayed in Attica. But when the Peloponnesians took longer and acted more slowly, and the invader was now said to be in Boeotia, they moved everything out and crossed over to Salamis themselves. They also sent messengers to Lacedaemon, both to reproach the Lacedaemonians for letting the foreigner invade Attica instead of joining them to meet him in Boeotia, and to remind them of all that the Persian had promised to give them if they changed sides. They declared too that if the Lacedaemonians did not defend the Athenians, the Athenians would find some way to save themselves.

Chapter 7

1The Lacedaemonians were indeed keeping a festival at this time; it was the Hyacinthia, and they thought it most important to honor the god. At the same time the wall they were building at the Isthmus was already getting its battlements. When the messengers from Athens arrived in Lacedaemon, together with messengers from Megara and from Plataea, they came before the ephors and said this.

Chapter 7A

1"The Athenians sent us to tell you that the king of the Medes gives us back our land and wants to make us his allies on equal and like terms, without trickery or deceit. He is also willing to give us other land besides our own, whichever we choose.

2We, out of respect for Zeus of the Greeks and because we think it terrible to betray Greece, did not agree but refused, even though we are wronged by the Greeks and betrayed by them. We know that it would be more profitable for us to come to terms with the Persian than to fight him, but we will not come to terms willingly. So on our side our good faith toward the Greeks stands unbroken."

Chapter 7B

1"You fell into the greatest fear then that we would come to terms with the Persian. Now that you have clearly learned our mind, that we will never betray Greece, and since the wall driven through the Isthmus is finished, you now pay no attention at all to the Athenians. You agreed with us to meet the Persian in Boeotia and then abandoned us, and you let the foreigner invade Attica.

2For now the Athenians are angry with you, because you did not act as you should have. But now they have ordered you to send out an army with all speed along with us, so that we may meet the foreigner in Attica. Since we failed to hold Boeotia, the Thriasian plain, which belongs to us, is the most suitable place to fight."

Chapter 8

1When the ephors heard this, they put off their answer to the next day, and on the next day to the day after. They did this for ten days, delaying from day to day. Meanwhile all the Peloponnesians were building the wall at the Isthmus with great effort,

2and it was nearly finished. I cannot say what the reason was that they took great care, when Alexander of Macedon came to Athens, to keep the Athenians from siding with the Medes, but now paid no attention at all, except that the Isthmus had been walled and they thought they no longer needed the Athenians. When Alexander came to Attica, the wall was not yet finished, and they were working hard because they were in great fear of the Persians.

Chapter 9

1This is how the Spartans finally gave their answer and marched out. On the day before the last meeting was to be held, Chileus, a man of Tegea and the most powerful foreigner in Lacedaemon, learned from the ephors the whole message that the Athenians were giving. When he heard it, Chileus said this to them:

2"This is how matters stand, gentlemen ephors: if the Athenians are not our friends but become allies of the foreigner, then even though a strong wall has been driven through the Isthmus, wide gates stand open for the Persian into the Peloponnese. But listen to them now, before some other decision by the Athenians brings harm to Greece."

Chapter 10

1This was his advice. They took it to heart at once, and without saying anything to the messengers who had come from the cities, they sent out five thousand Spartans during the night, with seven helots assigned to each man, and ordered Pausanias the son of Cleombrotus to lead them out.

2The command belonged to Pleistarchus the son of Leonidas, but he was still a boy, and this man was his guardian and cousin. For Cleombrotus, the father of Pausanias and the son of Anaxandrides, was no longer alive. After leading back from the Isthmus the army that had built the wall, he lived only a short time and then died.

3Cleombrotus led the army away from the Isthmus for this reason: when he was sacrificing for the war against the Persian, the sun was dimmed in the sky. Pausanias also chose for himself Euryanax the son of Dorieus, a man of the same family.

Chapter 11

1So the men with Pausanias had marched out of Sparta. The messengers, when day came, knew nothing about the march. They came before the ephors, intending to leave, each to go home to his own city. When they came in, they said this: "You Lacedaemonians stay here and keep the Hyacinthia and amuse yourselves, while you betray your allies. We Athenians, since we are wronged by you and left without allies, will make terms with the Persian in whatever way we can.

2When we have made terms, it is clear that we will become the king's allies and will march with them wherever they lead. From then on you will learn whatever comes to you from it." While the messengers were saying this, the ephors said under oath that they thought their men were already at Orestheum, marching against the foreigners. For they called the foreigners 'guests'.

3The messengers, not knowing what this meant, asked what he was saying; on asking they learned the whole truth. They were amazed, and set out at top speed to catch up. With them five thousand picked hoplites from the people around Lacedaemon did the same.

Chapter 12

1So they hurried to the Isthmus. As soon as the Argives learned that the men with Pausanias had marched out of Sparta, they found the best of their day-runners and sent him to Attica as a herald. Earlier they had promised Mardonius that they would keep the Spartan from marching out.

2When he reached Athens, he said this: "Mardonius, the Argives sent me to tell you that the young men have marched out of Lacedaemon, and that the Argives cannot hold them back from marching out. In view of this, make good plans."

Chapter 13

1After saying this he went back. When Mardonius heard this, he was no longer at all willing to stay in Attica. Before he learned of it, he had held back, wanting to see what the Athenians would do. He did not harm or ravage the land of Attica, hoping all the time that they would come to terms.

2When he could not persuade them and had learned the whole story, he pulled back before the men with Pausanias could enter the Isthmus. He burned Athens, and whatever was still standing of the walls, the houses, or the temples, he knocked down and covered with earth.

3He withdrew for these reasons: the land of Attica was not suited for cavalry, and if he fought and lost, there was no way out except through a narrow pass, so that a few men could hold them back. So he planned to fall back to Thebes and fight near a friendly city and land suited for cavalry.

Chapter 14

1Mardonius was pulling back. While he was already on the road, news came that another army had reached Megara in advance, a thousand Lacedaemonians. When he heard this, he made plans, hoping somehow to capture these men first. He turned his army around and led it toward Megara. The cavalry went ahead and ravaged the land of Megara. This was the farthest point in Europe toward the setting sun that this Persian army reached.

Chapter 15

1After this, Mardonius received news that the Greeks were gathered at the Isthmus. So he went back by way of Decelea. The Boeotarchs had sent for the peoples who lived near the Asopus, and these guided him along the road to Sphendaleae, and from there to Tanagra.

2He camped the night at Tanagra, and on the next day turned toward Scolus, which was in Theban territory. There, even though the Thebans were on the side of the Medes, he cut down the land. Not out of any hatred for them, but because he was under great compulsion, both to build a defense for his army and, in case the battle did not turn out as he wanted, to have this as a refuge.

3His camp stretched, starting from Erythrae, past Hysiae and into the land of Plataea, drawn up along the river Asopus. He did not, however, make the wall that large, but only about ten stades at most for each stretch of the front.

Chapter 16

1While the foreigners were busy with this work, Attaginus the son of Phrynon, a Theban, prepared on a grand scale and invited Mardonius himself and fifty of the most notable Persians to a banquet. They were invited and came. The dinner was held at Thebes. What follows I heard from Thersander, a man of Orchomenus and one of the leading men there. Thersander said that he too was invited by Attaginus to this dinner, and that fifty Thebans were invited as well. They were not seated apart, but a Persian and a Theban on each couch.

2When dinner was over and they were drinking, the Persian on the same couch, who spoke Greek, asked him where he was from. He answered that he was from Orchomenus. The Persian said: "Since you have now shared my table and my cup, I want to leave you a record of my judgment, so that you can know in advance and plan what is best for yourself.

3You see these Persians at their feast, and the army we left camped by the river. In a short time from now you will see that only a few of all these are left alive." As the Persian said this, he let fall many tears.

4Thersander was amazed at his words, and said to him: "Then ought you not to tell this to Mardonius and to the Persians who stand high with him?" The Persian answered: "Stranger, what must come from god no man can turn aside, and no one is willing to believe the truth when he hears it.

5Many of us Persians know this, and we go along with it, bound by necessity. The most hateful pain there is among men is this: to see many things clearly but control nothing." This I heard from Thersander of Orchomenus, and this besides: that he told these things to people right away, before the battle at Plataea took place.

Chapter 17

1While Mardonius was camped in Boeotia, all the other Greeks in that area who had sided with the Medes supplied troops and joined in the invasion of Athens. Only the Phocians did not join in, though they too had very much sided with the Medes, not willingly but under compulsion.

2Not many days after their arrival at Thebes, a thousand hoplites came after them, led by Harmocydes, one of the most respected of their citizens. When these too had arrived at Thebes, Mardonius sent horsemen and ordered them to sit down by themselves in the plain.

3When they did this, at once all the cavalry was there. After this a report spread through the Greek army that was with the Medes that he was going to shoot them down, and the same report spread through the Phocians themselves.

4Then their commander Harmocydes encouraged them, saying this: "Phocians, it is plain that these men are going to hand us over to a death we can see coming, because the Thessalians have slandered us, as I guess. Now every one of you must show himself a brave man. It is better to meet your end doing something and defending yourselves than to be killed in the most shameful way without resisting. But let some of them learn that, foreigners though they are, they have planned death against Greek men."

Chapter 18

1That was his encouragement. The horsemen, after surrounding them, charged as though to destroy them, and they made ready their weapons as though to shoot, and one or another did shoot. The Phocians stood facing them on every side, wheeling around and closing their ranks as tightly as they could. Then the riders turned and rode back.

2I cannot say for certain whether they came to destroy the Phocians at the request of the Thessalians, and then, when they saw them turn to defend themselves, were afraid of taking losses too and so rode back, for this is what Mardonius had ordered them to do, or whether he wanted to test them to see whether they had any fight in them.

3When the riders had ridden back, Mardonius sent a herald and said this: "Take courage, Phocians. You have proved yourselves to be brave men, not at all as I was told. Now carry on this war with good will; for you will not outdo me or the king in good deeds." This is as far as the story of the Phocians goes.

Chapter 19

1When the Lacedaemonians came to the Isthmus, they camped there. When the rest of the Peloponnesians learned of this, those who favored the better course, and who also saw the Spartans marching out, did not think it right to be left out of the march of the Lacedaemonians.

2So from the Isthmus, when the sacrifices came out well, they all marched and came to Eleusis. There they made sacrifices too, and when the signs were good, they marched on. The Athenians went with them, having crossed over from Salamis and joined them at Eleusis.

3When they reached Erythrae in Boeotia, they learned that the foreigners were camped by the Asopus. When they found this out, they drew up their line facing them along the lower slopes of Cithaeron.

Chapter 20

1Mardonius, since the Greeks did not come down into the plain, sent all his cavalry against them. It was commanded by Masistius, who stood in high honor among the Persians and whom the Greeks call Macistius. He rode a Nisaean horse with a gold bridle, beautifully decorated in other ways as well. When the riders charged against the Greeks, they attacked by squadrons. In their attacks they did great harm, and they called the Greeks women.

Chapter 21

1As it happened, the Megarians were posted at the point of the whole position that was easiest to attack, and this was where the cavalry came at them most. When the cavalry kept charging, the Megarians were under heavy pressure and sent a herald to the Greek generals. The herald came to them and said this.

2The Megarians say: "We, men of the allies, cannot hold off the Persian cavalry by ourselves, since we hold this post that we have held from the beginning. Even so, we are holding on up to now by persistence and courage, though we are under heavy pressure. Now, unless you send other men to take over our position, know that we will leave our post."

3That was the message he delivered to them. Pausanias then asked the Greeks whether any of them would volunteer to go to this place and take over the post from the Megarians. When the others were unwilling, the Athenians took it on, and of the Athenians the three hundred picked men, whom Olympiodorus son of Lampon commanded.

Chapter 22

1These were the men who took on the job, and they were posted in front of all the other Greeks present, at Erythrae, with the archers added to their number. They fought for some time, and the battle ended as follows. The cavalry charged in squadrons, and the horse of Masistius, which was ahead of the others, was hit in the side by an arrow. It reared up in pain and threw Masistius off.

2When he fell, the Athenians rushed at him at once. They caught his horse and killed him as he fought back, though at first they could not do it. This was how he was armed: he wore a golden scale breastplate underneath, and over the breastplate he had on a crimson tunic. Their blows on the breastplate did nothing, until one man understood what was going on and struck him in the eye. That is how he fell and died.

3All this happened without the other riders noticing. They did not see him fall off his horse, and they did not see him die, and as the force pulled back and then turned around they did not learn what had happened. When they stopped, they noticed his absence at once, because there was no one to give them orders. When they learned what had happened, they called to each other and all drove their horses forward, to take the body up.

Chapter 23

1When the Athenians saw that the riders were no longer coming up in squadrons but all together, they called on the rest of the army for help. While the whole infantry force was coming to help, a sharp fight over the body began.

2As long as the three hundred were alone, they were far outmatched and were losing the body. But when the mass of the army came to their help, the horsemen no longer held their ground, and they could not take the body away. Instead they lost other riders as well as him. They pulled back about two stades and considered what they should do. Since they were now without a leader, they decided to ride back to Mardonius.

Chapter 24

1When the cavalry reached the camp, the whole army went into mourning for Masistius, and Mardonius most of all. They shaved their own heads, and the horses and the pack animals too, and they cried out without end. All of Boeotia rang with the noise, because a man had died who was the most honored of all after Mardonius among the Persians and with the king.

Chapter 25

1The foreigners honored Masistius after his death in their own way. As for the Greeks, when they had taken the cavalry's charge and driven it back, they grew much bolder. First they put the body on a cart and drove it along the lines. The body was worth seeing, for its size and its beauty, and that was exactly why they did this: they kept leaving their ranks and coming over to look at Masistius.

2Then they decided to move down to Plataea. The land of Plataea looked much better suited for a camp than the land of Erythrae, both in other ways and because it had more water. They decided that they should go to this place and to the spring Gargaphia, which is in it, and camp there after drawing up their line.

3They picked up their weapons and marched along the lower slopes of Cithaeron, past Hysiae, into the land of Plataea. When they arrived they drew up by nations near the spring Gargaphia and the precinct of the hero Androcrates, over low ridges and flat ground.

Chapter 26

1Then, in drawing up the line, the Tegeans and the Athenians had a big dispute with many words. Each of them claimed the right to hold the other wing, and they brought up their deeds, both old and new. First the Tegeans said this.

2"We have always been held worthy of this post out of all the allies, in every joint campaign the Peloponnesians have made, both in old times and in recent ones, ever since the time when the Heracleidae tried to come down into the Peloponnese after the death of Eurystheus;

3we won this right at that time because of what happened next. We went out with the Achaeans and the Ionians who lived in the Peloponnese in those days, and we sat down at the Isthmus facing the men who were coming down. The story is that Hyllus then proposed that the two armies should not risk a battle with each other, but that the Peloponnesians should choose from their own army the man they judged to be the best, and that this man should fight him in single combat on agreed terms.

4The Peloponnesians decided that this was what they should do, and they cut an oath on these terms: if Hyllus beat the Peloponnesian champion, the Heracleidae would come down and take back their fathers' land; if he was beaten, the opposite—the Heracleidae would go away and lead their army off, and for one hundred years they would not seek to return to the Peloponnese.

5Out of all the allies, Echemus son of Aeropus, son of Phegeus, was chosen as our champion, of his own free will. He was a general and our king. He fought the duel and killed Hyllus. Because of this deed we won other great privileges among the Peloponnesians of that time, which we still hold, and we always have the command of one wing whenever a joint campaign is made.

6So we do not oppose you, Lacedaemonians. We give you the choice of whichever wing you want to command, and we yield it to you. But we say that the other wing is ours to lead, just as it was in the past. Apart from this deed I have told, we have a stronger claim than the Athenians to hold this post.

7We have fought many contests, men of Sparta, on your side and with good results, and many against others as well. So it is right that we hold one wing rather than the Athenians. They do not have deeds to show like the ones we have done, either new or old."

Chapter 27

1That is what they said, and the Athenians answered them: "We know that this gathering has been brought together to fight the foreigner, not to talk. But since the Tegean has put it to us to speak of old deeds and new, and of the good things each side has done in all of time, we must show you how it is our inherited right, since we have always been good men, always to be first rather than the Arcadians.

2First, take the Heracleidae, whom these men say killed their champion at the Isthmus. These men had been driven out by all the Greeks before, and they fled to us to escape slavery at the hands of the Mycenaeans. We alone took them in, and we put a stop to the violence of Eurystheus, winning a battle against the men who then held the Peloponnese, together with them.

3Second, take the Argives who marched with Polynices against Thebes. They ended their lives and lay unburied. We marched against the Cadmeans, and we say that we picked up the dead and buried them in our own land, at Eleusis.

4We also have a good deed to our credit against the Amazons, who once invaded Attica from the river Thermodon, and in the troubles at Troy we were behind no one. But there is no point in recalling these things. For men who were good then might now be worse, and men who were poor then might now be better.

5Enough of old deeds. Even if we had nothing else to show—and in fact we have many good deeds, as much as any other Greeks—still, on the strength of the deed at Marathon alone we deserve to hold this privilege, and others besides it. We were the only Greeks who fought the Persian on our own. We took on so great a task and came through and won, and we beat forty-six nations.

6Are we not right to hold this post on the strength of this one deed alone? But it is not right to quarrel over a place in the line at a time like this. We are ready to obey you, Lacedaemonians, and to stand wherever you think it is most suitable for us to stand, and opposite whichever troops. Wherever we are placed, we will try to prove ourselves good men. Give your orders, and we will obey."

Chapter 28

1That was their answer. Then the whole Lacedaemonian army shouted out that the Athenians had a stronger claim to hold the wing than the Arcadians. So the Athenians got the position and won out over the Tegeans.

2After this the Greeks drew up in this order, both those who kept arriving and those who had come at the start. The right wing was held by ten thousand Lacedaemonians. Five thousand of these were Spartiates, and they were guarded by thirty-five thousand light-armed helots, seven posted around each man.

3Next to them the Spartiates chose to post the Tegeans, both for the honor they gave them and for their courage. These had fifteen hundred hoplites. After them stood five thousand Corinthians. Next to them, the three hundred Potidaeans from Pallene who were present got permission from Pausanias to stand beside them.

4Next to these stood six hundred Arcadians from Orchomenus, and next to them three thousand Sicyonians. Next to these stood eight hundred Epidaurians. Beside these one thousand Troezenians were drawn up. Next to the Troezenians came two hundred Lepreatae, next to these four hundred Mycenaeans and Tirynthians, and next to these one thousand Phliasians. Beside these three hundred Hermionians took their place.

5Next to the Hermionians stood six hundred Eretrians and Styrians, next to these four hundred Chalcidians, and next to these five hundred Ambraciots. After these, eight hundred Leucadians and Anactorians took their place, and next to them two hundred Paleans from Cephallenia.

6After them five hundred Aeginetans were drawn up. Beside these three thousand Megarians were drawn up. Next to these came six hundred Plataeans. Last and first the Athenians were drawn up, holding the left wing: eight thousand men. Their general was Aristides son of Lysimachus.

Chapter 29

1These, apart from the seven light-armed men posted around each Spartiate, were hoplites, and the total was thirty-eight thousand seven hundred men. That was the full number of the hoplites who gathered against the foreigner. The number of the light-armed troops was as follows. In the Spartan contingent there were thirty-five thousand men, since there were seven around each man, and every one of them was armed for war;

2and the light-armed men of the rest of the Lacedaemonians and the other Greeks, one around each man, came to thirty-four thousand five hundred.

Chapter 30

1So all the light-armed fighting men together came to sixty-nine thousand five hundred. The whole Greek force that gathered at Plataea, hoplites and fighting light-armed men together, was eleven myriads, short by one thousand eight hundred men. With the Thespians who were present the eleven myriads were filled up. For the surviving Thespians were also in the camp, about eighteen hundred of them, and these too had no arms. These, then, took up their position on the Asopus and made their camp.

Chapter 31

1The foreigners with Mardonius, when they had finished mourning for Masistius, came on, learning that the Greeks were at Plataea, and they too came to the Asopus that flows there. When they arrived, they drew up opposite the Greeks under Mardonius as follows. Facing the Lacedaemonians he posted the Persians.

2The Persians were far superior in number, so they were drawn up in deeper ranks and also faced the Tegeans. He arranged them like this: he picked out all the strongest of the Persians and set them facing the Lacedaemonians, and he drew up the weaker part opposite the Tegeans. He did this on the advice and instruction of the Thebans.

3Next to the Persians he posted the Medes. These faced the Corinthians, the Potidaeans, the Orchomenians, and the Sicyonians. Next to the Medes he posted the Bactrians. These faced the Epidaurians, the Troezenians, the Lepreatae, the Tirynthians, the Mycenaeans, and the Phliasians.

4After the Bactrians he posted the Indians. These faced the Hermionians, the Eretrians, the Styrians, and the Chalcidians. Next to the Indians he posted the Sacae, who faced the Ambraciots, the Anactorians, the Leucadians, the Paleans, and the Aeginetans.

5Next to the Sacae he posted, facing the Athenians, the Plataeans, and the Megarians, the Boeotians, the Locrians, the Malians, the Thessalians, and the thousand Phocians. Not all the Phocians had sided with the Medes. Some of them took the Greek side and held out around Parnassus, and from there they kept raiding and plundering both Mardonius' army and the Greeks with him. He also posted the Macedonians and the men living in Thessaly facing the Athenians.

Chapter 32

1These are the largest of the nations posted by Mardonius that I have named, the ones that were most famous and most talked about. There were also men of other nations mixed in: Phrygians, Thracians, Mysians, Paeonians, and others. There were Ethiopians too, and the Egyptians called Hermotybians and Calasirians, who carry swords and are the only fighting men among the Egyptians.

2These he had taken off from the ships as marines while he was still at Phalerum. The Egyptians had not been assigned to the infantry that came to Athens with Xerxes. The foreigners were thirty myriads, as has been shown before. Of the Greeks who were Mardonius' allies nobody knows the number, since they were not counted. As far as a guess goes, I think that about five myriads were gathered. These were the infantry drawn up in the line, and the cavalry was drawn up separately.

Chapter 33

1When all of them had been drawn up by nations and by units, both sides took omens from sacrifice on the second day. For the Greeks, Tisamenus son of Antiochus was the man who took the omens. He followed this army as its seer. He was an Elean, of the clan of the Iamidae [Clytiadae], and the Lacedaemonians made him one of their own citizens.

2When Tisamenus consulted the oracle at Delphi about having children, the Pythia told him that he would win the five greatest contests. He missed the meaning of the oracle and turned to athletic training, thinking that he would win athletic contests. He trained for the pentathlon and came within one bout of winning at Olympia, when he competed against Hieronymus of Andros.

3The Lacedaemonians learned that Tisamenus' oracle did not point to athletic contests but to contests of war. They tried, by paying him, to persuade Tisamenus to become their leader in war, along with the kings of the Heracleidae.

4He saw that the Spartans set great value on winning him as their friend. When he understood this, he raised his price. He told them that if they made him a citizen of theirs and gave him a share in everything, he would do it, but for no other payment.

5When the Spartans first heard this, they were outraged and gave up the whole plan. But in the end, with the great fear of this Persian army hanging over them, they agreed and came back to him. He saw that they had changed their minds, but even now he said he would not settle for just this. His brother Hegias too had to become a Spartiate, on the same terms on which he himself did.

Chapter 34

1In saying this he was copying Melampus, or so it seems, since he too asked for a share of royal power and of citizenship. For when the women of Argos went mad, the Argives hired Melampus from Pylos to stop the disease in their women, and he demanded half the kingdom as his payment.

2The Argives would not accept this and went away. But as more of the women went mad, they agreed to what Melampus demanded and came to give it to him. Then he raised his price again, seeing that they had changed their minds. He said that unless they also gave a third share of the kingdom to his brother Bias, he would not do what they wanted. The Argives, forced into a corner, agreed to this as well.

Chapter 35

1So did the Spartans. They badly needed Tisamenus, and they gave in to him completely. When the Spartans had agreed to this too, Tisamenus the Elean, who became a Spartiate, helped them win the five greatest contests he had foretold. He and his brother were the only men ever to become Spartiates.

2The five contests were these. The first was this one at Plataea. Next came the one at Tegea, against the Tegeans and the Argives. Then the one at Dipaea, against all the Arcadians except the Mantineans. Then the one at Ithome, against the Messenians. And last came the one at Tanagra, against the Athenians and the Argives. This one was fought last of the five contests.

Chapter 36

1This Tisamenus was with the Greeks at that time, and at the Spartans' direction he took the omens for them in the land of Plataea. For the Greeks the omens were good if they defended themselves, but not if they crossed the Asopus and began the battle.

Chapter 37

1Mardonius was eager to start the battle, but the sacrifices did not come out right for that. When he was defending himself, though, they were good even for him. He too used Greek rites, because he had a prophet named Hegesistratus, a man of Elis and the most respected of the Telliads. The Spartans had caught this man earlier and put him in chains to be put to death, because they had suffered many harsh things at his hands.

2Caught in this trouble, running a race for his life and about to suffer many painful things before his death, he did a deed beyond words. He was bound in a wooden stock fastened with iron, and when some piece of iron was somehow brought in, he got hold of it. At once he carried out the bravest deed of all that we know. He worked out how the rest of his foot would get free, and then he cut off his own instep.

3After doing this, even though guards were watching him, he dug through the wall and escaped to Tegea. He traveled by night and in the daytime hid in the woods and camped there. The Lacedaemonians searched for him with all their people, but he reached Tegea on the third night. They were filled with great wonder at his boldness, because they saw the cut-off half of his foot lying there and could not find him.

4So he escaped the Lacedaemonians in this way and fled to Tegea, which at that time was not friendly to the Lacedaemonians. When he had healed and fitted himself with a wooden foot, he stood out as an open enemy of the Lacedaemonians. Yet the hatred he had formed against the Lacedaemonians did not turn out well for him in the end. He was caught practicing divination at Zacynthus by them, and he died.

Chapter 38

1The death of Hegesistratus, however, came after the events at Plataea. But at that time, there on the Asopus, he was hired by Mardonius for no small pay. He kept making sacrifices and was very eager, both because he hated the Lacedaemonians and because of the money.

2But the sacrifices did not turn out well enough for a battle, neither for the Persians themselves nor for the Greeks who were with them. These Greeks too had their own prophet, a man of Leucas named Hippomachus. The Greeks kept streaming in and growing more numerous, so Timagenides, son of Herpys, a Theban, advised Mardonius to guard the passes of Cithaeron. He said that the Greeks streamed in every day, and that Mardonius could cut off quite a few of them.

Chapter 39

1They had already been facing each other for eight days when he gave Mardonius this advice. Mardonius saw that the advice was good, and when night came he sent the cavalry to the passes of Cithaeron that lead toward Plataea. The Boeotians call these passes Three Heads, and the Athenians call them Oak Heads. The riders who were sent did not get there for nothing.

2As they were coming down into the plain, they caught five hundred pack animals carrying food from the Peloponnese to the camp, along with the men who were following the teams. When the Persians had taken this catch, they killed without holding back, sparing neither any pack animal nor any person. When they had killed as many as they wanted, they rounded up the rest and drove them off to Mardonius and to the camp.

Chapter 40

1After this action they spent two more days there, and neither side wanted to begin a battle. The foreigners kept advancing as far as the Asopus to try the Greeks, but neither side crossed the river. Mardonius' cavalry kept attacking and hurting the Greeks. The Thebans, since they were strongly on the side of the Medes, carried on the war eagerly and always led the way up to the battle line. After that, though, the Persians and the Medes took over, and they were the ones who showed their courage.

Chapter 41

1For the first ten days nothing more than this happened. On the eleventh day, as the two sides faced each other at Plataea, the Greeks had become far more numerous, and Mardonius was chafing at the delay. Then Mardonius, son of Gobryas, and Artabazus, son of Pharnaces, came to talk with each other. Artabazus was one of the few Persians who was a man of high standing with Xerxes.

2As they took counsel, these were their opinions. Artabazus thought that they should break camp as fast as possible and take the whole army to the wall of Thebes. A large amount of food had been brought inside for them there, and fodder for the pack animals. Settling there in quiet, they should carry out their business by doing this:

3They had a great deal of gold, both coined and uncoined, and also a great deal of silver and drinking cups. Sparing none of it, they should send it around to the Greeks, above all to the men who held the leading places in the cities. Then the Greeks would quickly give up their freedom, and they should not risk another battle by engaging the enemy.

4This was also the opinion of the Thebans, since he too had more foresight. But the opinion of Mardonius was stronger and more stubborn, and they agreed with it in no way. He thought that their army was much stronger than the Greek army. They should join battle as fast as possible and not stand by while still more men gathered than had already gathered. They should leave Hegesistratus' sacrifices alone and not force them, but should join battle using the Persian custom.

Chapter 42

1When he held this opinion and argued for it, no one spoke against him, so his opinion carried the day. He, and not Artabazus, held the command of the army from the king. He sent for the commanders of the units and for the generals of the Greeks who were with him, and asked them whether they knew any oracle about the Persians, that they would be destroyed in Greece.

2The men he had called kept silent. Some of them did not know the oracles, and others knew them but did not think it safe to say them. Mardonius himself spoke: "Since either you know nothing or you do not dare to speak, I will tell you, since I know it well:

3there is an oracle that the Persians must come to Greece and sack the temple at Delphi, and that after the sack they will all be destroyed. We know this very thing, so we will neither go to that temple nor try to sack it, and for this reason we will not be destroyed.

4So those of you who happen to be well disposed toward the Persians should be glad at this, that we will be the winners over the Greeks." After saying this to them, he next gave orders to get everything ready and to set it in good order, since a battle would be joined at daybreak on the next day.

Chapter 43

1Now I know that this oracle, the one Mardonius said applied to the Persians, was made about the Illyrians and the army of the Encheleans, and not about the Persians. But the verses that Bacis made about this battle are these:

2"the meeting of the Greeks at the grassy Thermodon and Asopus, and the cry in a foreign tongue, where many will fall by the fate and lot of the bow-bearing Medes, when the appointed day comes." These and other verses like them I know Musaeus has about the Persians. The river Thermodon flows between Tanagra and Glisa.

Chapter 44

1After the question about the oracles and the advice from Mardonius, night came and the men were set to guard. When the night had moved on and quiet seemed to hold the camps, and most of all when the men were asleep, at that time Alexander, son of Amyntas, who was both general and king of the Macedonians, rode up on horseback to the guards of the Athenians and asked to speak with their generals.

2Most of the guards stayed at their post, but some ran to the generals. When they got there they said that a man had come on a horse from the camp of the Medes. He did not reveal anything else, but named the generals and said that he wanted to speak with them.

Chapter 45

1When they heard this, they went at once to the guards. When they arrived, Alexander said this: "Men of Athens, I am placing these words with you as a trust. Keep them secret and tell no one else but Pausanias, or you may destroy me. I would not be speaking now if I were not deeply concerned for the whole of Greece.

2I am a Greek by descent from the beginning, and I would not want to see Greece enslaved instead of free. I tell you, then, that Mardonius and his army cannot get the sacrifices to come out as they wish; otherwise you would have been fighting long ago. Now he has decided to give up on the sacrifices and to join battle at daybreak. He is afraid that more of you will gather together, I think. Get ready for this. If Mardonius puts off the battle and does not make it, hold out and stay where you are, because they have food for only a few more days.

3If this war ends the way you want it to, someone must remember me too, and my being freed, because for the sake of the Greeks I have done so risky a deed out of eagerness. I wanted to show you Mardonius' plan, so that the foreigners do not fall on you suddenly when you are not expecting it in any way. I am Alexander the Macedonian." After saying this he rode back to the camp and to his own position.

Chapter 46

1The generals of the Athenians went to the right wing and told Pausanias what they had heard from Alexander. This report made him afraid of the Persians, and he said this:

2"Since the battle will come at dawn, you Athenians must take your stand against the Persians, and we against the Boeotians and the Greeks who are drawn up opposite you, for these reasons: you know the Medes and their way of fighting, because you fought them at Marathon. We have no experience and no knowledge of these men, since no Spartan has ever tried the Medes. But we have experience of the Boeotians and the Thessalians.

3So you must take up your arms and move to this wing, and we will move to the left wing." To this the Athenians said: "We ourselves have had this in mind from the very beginning, ever since we saw the Persians drawn up opposite you, to say exactly what you have now brought out first. But we were afraid that these words would not be pleasing to you. Since you have brought it up yourself, your words are welcome to us, and we are ready to do this."

Chapter 47

1Both sides were pleased with this. Day was breaking, and they exchanged their positions. The Boeotians saw what was being done and reported it to Mardonius. When he heard it, he too at once tried to change his position, moving the Persians to face the Lacedaemonians. When Pausanias learned that this was happening, and knew that he was not getting away unseen, he led the Spartans back to the right wing. Mardonius did the same and moved to the left wing.

Chapter 48

1When they had settled back into their original positions, Mardonius sent a herald to the Spartans to say this: "Lacedaemonians, the people here say that you are the best of men. They are full of wonder, saying that you never run away from a battle and never leave your post, and that you either destroy your opponents or are destroyed yourselves.

2But there is no truth in any of this. Before we even met and came to close fighting, we saw you running away and leaving your post, making your first test against the Athenians and drawing yourselves up opposite our slaves.

3These are in no way the deeds of good men; in fact we have been proved completely wrong about you. We expected, from the stories we heard, that you would send a herald to us with a challenge, wanting to fight the Persians alone, and we were ready to do this. But we found you saying nothing of the kind, and cowering instead. So now, since you did not begin this talk, we will begin it.

4Why should we not fight it out, you in front of the Greeks, since you are thought to be the best, and we in front of the foreigners, equal numbers against equal numbers? If it seems good that the others fight too, then let them fight afterward, as later men. But if it does not seem good, and it is enough for us to fight alone, then let us fight it out by ourselves. Whichever of us wins, let the victory count for the whole army."

Chapter 49

1He said this and waited a while. When no one answered him, he left and went back. When he got back he reported to Mardonius what had happened. Mardonius was overjoyed and elated by this hollow victory, and sent the cavalry against the Greeks.

2When the riders charged, they hurt the whole Greek army, throwing javelins and shooting arrows. They were horse archers, and impossible to close with. They also fouled and filled in the spring called Gargaphia, from which the whole Greek army got its water.

3Only the Lacedaemonians were posted by the spring. For the other Greeks the spring was far off, wherever each of them happened to be posted, while the Asopus was close. Since they were kept away from the Asopus, they went to the spring instead, because the horsemen and the arrows did not let them fetch water from the river.

Chapter 50

1When this happened, the Greek generals came together at Pausanias' position on the right wing, to talk about these things and others. The army had lost its water supply and was being upset by the cavalry. But other troubles besides these upset them more: they no longer had any food, and the servants they had sent to the Peloponnese to get provisions had been cut off by the cavalry and could not get back to the camp.

Chapter 51

1As the generals took counsel, they decided that if the Persians put off joining battle that day, they would go to the island. This island lies ten stades from the Asopus and from the Gargaphia spring, where they were camped at the time, and it is in front of the city of Plataea.

2How there can be an island on the mainland is this. The river splits apart up above, flowing down from Cithaeron into the plain. Its channels run about three stades apart, and then they come together again. The name of the river is Oeroe.

3The local people say that she is a daughter of Asopus. They decided to move to this place, so that they could use water in plenty and the horsemen could not hurt them the way they could when the two sides lay straight opposite each other. It seemed best to make the move at the second watch of the night, so that the Persians would not see them setting out and the riders would not follow them and cause them trouble.

4When they reached this place, where the Asopus' daughter Oeroe splits apart as she flows down from Cithaeron, they decided that during that night they would send half the army to Cithaeron, to pick up the servants who had gone for food, because they had been cut off on Cithaeron.

Chapter 52

1Having made this plan, they had unending trouble all that day, because the cavalry kept pressing them. When day came to an end and the riders stopped, and night came and it was the time they had agreed on to leave, most of them got up and left. They did not have it in mind to go to the place they had agreed on. As soon as they moved, they were glad to run from the cavalry toward the city of Plataea. In their flight they came to the Heraion, which is in front of the city of Plataea, twenty stades from the Gargaphia spring. When they arrived there they set their arms down in front of the temple.

Chapter 53

1These men camped around the Heraion. Pausanias saw them leaving the camp and ordered the Lacedaemonians too to take up their arms and follow the others who were going ahead, because he thought they were going to the place they had agreed on.

2At this point the other company commanders were ready to obey Pausanias. But Amompharetus, son of Poliades, who commanded the company of the Pitane men, said that he would not run from the strangers and that he would not willingly bring shame on Sparta. He was amazed at what was being done, since he had not been present at the earlier discussion.

3Pausanias and Euryanax thought it a serious matter that he would not obey them. They thought it a still more serious matter to leave the Pitane company behind while he refused to go along. If they left it and did what they had agreed with the rest of the Greeks, Amompharetus and the men with him would be left behind and would be destroyed.

4With this in mind they kept the Laconian army where it was, and tried to persuade him that he should not do this.

Chapter 54

1They kept urging Amompharetus, who alone was holding back among the Lacedaemonians and the Tegeans. The Athenians did this: they kept themselves quiet where they were posted, because they knew the way of thinking of the Lacedaemonians, that they mean one thing and say another.

2When the army began to move, they sent one of their horsemen to see whether the Spartans were trying to march out, or whether they had no intention of leaving at all, and to ask Pausanias what ought to be done.

Chapter 55

1When the herald reached the Lacedaemonians, he saw them still in their positions, and their leading men in a quarrel with each other. Euryanax and Pausanias were urging Amompharetus not to take the risk of staying there alone of the Lacedaemonians, but they could not persuade him in any way. They had come to open quarreling, and the herald of the Athenians arrived and stood beside them.

2In the quarrel Amompharetus picked up a rock with both hands and set it down in front of Pausanias' feet. He said that with this as his ballot he voted not to run from the strangers, meaning the foreigners. Pausanias called him mad and not in his right mind. When the Athenian herald asked what he had been ordered to say, Pausanias told him to report how things stood for them, and he asked the Athenians to come over to his side and to do the same as they themselves would do about the retreat.

Chapter 56

1And it was moving off toward the Athenians. Dawn caught them still questioning one another. At that time Pausanias sat where he was, for he did not think Amompharetus would be left behind when the other Lacedaemonians marched away—and that is what in fact happened. He gave the signal and led all the rest away through the hills. The Tegeans followed them too.

2The Athenians, once they were drawn up for battle, went by the opposite way from the Lacedaemonians. The Lacedaemonians held to the ridges and the lower slopes of Cithaeron, for fear of the cavalry. The Athenians, on the other hand, were turned down onto the plain.

Chapter 57

1Now Amompharetus at first did not believe at all that Pausanias would dare to leave them behind. He held his men in place, staying there and not giving up his position. But when the men with Pausanias went on ahead, he saw that they were leaving him of set purpose. So he took up his company in arms and led it at walking pace toward the other body of troops.

2That force went off about ten stades and waited there for the company of Amompharetus, by the river Moloeis, at a place called Argiopium, where a shrine of Demeter of Eleusis stands. It waited for this reason: that if Amompharetus and his company did not leave the post where they were drawn up but stayed on there, they could come back to their help.

3Then Amompharetus and his men joined them, and the whole cavalry of the foreigners charged at them. The horsemen did what they were always in the habit of doing: when they saw the ground lying empty where the Greeks had been drawn up on the days before, they drove their horses ever forward, and as soon as they caught up with them they closed in on them.

Chapter 58

1When Mardonius heard that the Greeks had gone off in the night, and saw that the ground was empty, he called Thorax of Larisa and his brothers Eurypylus and Thrasymedes, and said:

2"Sons of Aleuas, what can you still say when you look at this empty ground? You live next to them, and you used to say that the Lacedaemonians do not run from battle, but are the first of men in war. You saw them before this shifting out of their position, and now, in the night just past, they have all run away, as we all see. And they made it plain—since they had to be settled by battle against men who are beyond doubt the bravest—that they are nobodies who count for nothing anywhere among the Greeks."

3"You, who had no experience of Persians, I forgave much: you praised these Lacedaemonians, and you had some knowledge of them. But Artabazus made me wonder still more. He was afraid of the Lacedaemonians, and, in his fear, he accepted the most cowardly plan of all—that we should pack up the camp and go into the city of the Thebans and sit there under siege. About this the King will yet hear from me."

4"There will be another account of these matters elsewhere. But for the present, they must not be allowed to do these things; they must be pursued, so that when they are caught they pay us the full penalty for all that they did to the Persians."

Chapter 59

1When he had said this, he led the Persians, who had crossed the Asopus at a run, along the track of the Greeks, as if they were running away. He pressed on against the Lacedaemonians and the Tegeans alone, for the Athenians had turned into the plain, and he could not see them behind the hills.

2The other commanders of the foreign contingents saw the Persians setting out to chase the Greeks. At once they all raised their signals and gave chase, each as fast as his legs could carry him, with no array of arms and no battle order.

Chapter 60

1These men came on with a shout and in a crowd, as if to snatch the Greeks away. But when the cavalry drew near, Pausanias sent a horseman to the Athenians, who said: "Men of Athens, with the greatest contest of all set before us—whether Hellas is to be free or enslaved—we have been betrayed by our allies, we Lacedaemonians and you Athenians, betrayed by the men who slipped away in the night just past."

2"Now then, we must decide what we are to do from here on. We must defend ourselves as well as we can with the force we have, and keep close to one another. If the cavalry had first thrown itself on you, it would have been right for us, and for the Tegeans with us who have not betrayed Hellas, to come to your help. But now, since it has fallen wholly on us, it is right for you to go and defend the part that is being hardest pressed."

3"But if it has befallen you that you are somehow unable to help, then send us your archers, and by that you will place us in your debt. We know that in this present war you have been by far the most zealous of all, so that you will give ear even to this request."

Chapter 61

1When the Athenians heard this, they set out in haste to help and defend them. But while they were already on the march, the Greeks drawn up opposite them—the Greeks who had taken the King's side—fell upon them, so that they could no longer bring help, for the enemy pressing on them was hurting them.

2So the Lacedaemonians and Tegeans were left alone. They had their light-armed men with them, and all told they numbered fifty thousand, and the Tegeans three thousand (for these never at any time split off from the Lacedaemonians). They kept taking the omens, intending to join battle with Mardonius and the army that was with him.

3For the omens did not turn out favorable for them, and at that time many of them fell, and many times more were wounded. The Persians had fenced themselves with their wicker shields and were shooting arrows without stint, so many that, with the Spartans hard pressed and the omens still not turning out well, Pausanias looked toward the temple of Hera of the Plataeans and called on the goddess, praying that they might in no way be cheated of their hope.

Chapter 62

1While he was still calling on her, the Tegeans were the first to rise up and march against the foreigners. And for the Lacedaemonians, at once after the prayer of Pausanias the omens turned out favorable as they sacrificed. When that came about after a time, they too marched against the Persians, and the Persians faced them and let go of their bows.

2First the battle was fought around the wicker shields. When these had been knocked down, the battle became fierce right at the temple of Demeter, and it went on a long time, until they came to shoving one another with their bodies. For the foreigners would seize the spears and break them off.

3In daring and in strength the Persians were no worse. But they had no armor, and besides that they had no training, and they were not a match for their opponents in skill. They kept leaping out one at a time, or ten together, now in bigger groups and now in smaller, and threw themselves on the Spartans, and so they were destroyed.

Chapter 63

1Mardonius himself happened to be there. He fought from a white horse, and he had around him a thousand of the best men among the Persians, the picked troops. And it was there that they pressed their enemies hardest of all. As long as Mardonius was still alive, these men held their ground and defended themselves, and struck down many of the Lacedaemonians.

2When Mardonius died, and the troops drawn up around him, which were the strongest, fell, the rest too turned and gave way before the Lacedaemonians. Their clothing hurt them most of all, for they had no armor on it. Unprotected as they were, they fought against men in armor.

Chapter 64

1There the penalty for Leonidas, according to the oracle, was completed for the Spartans by Mardonius, and Pausanias son of Cleombrotus son of Anaxandrides won the most beautiful victory of all that we know of.

2The names of Pausanias' ancestors farther back were given earlier along with Leonidas, for they are the same men as his. Mardonius was killed by Aeimnestus, a man of note in Sparta. Long after the Median wars this man, leading three hundred men, joined battle at Stenyclerus, when there was war with all the Messenians, and both he himself and his three hundred died.

Chapter 65

1At Plataea, when the Persians were turned to flight by the Lacedaemonians, they fled in complete disorder to their own camp and to the wooden wall they had built in the Theban district.

2It is a wonder to me how, with the battle right beside the grove of Demeter, not one of the Persians appeared who had come into the sacred enclosure or died inside it. Most of them fell around the temple, on ground that was not sacred. If one must think anything about matters of the gods, I hold that the goddess herself refused to receive them, because they had burned the temple, the sacred building, at Eleusis.

Chapter 66

1So much for this battle. Artabazus son of Pharnaces had not been pleased even at the start, when Mardonius parted from the King. And now he said much against the battle, but he got nowhere, for he was not allowed to stop it. So he himself did as follows, because he was not pleased with the course of affairs under Mardonius.

2Artabazus was commander of these men. He had a force that was not small—some forty thousand men around him. He knew well what would become of these men once the battle was joined. So he led them out in good order, having ordered them all to march at the same pace he himself set, so that they would see him in earnest.

3When he had given these orders, he led out the army as if to battle. But when he had gone a little way along the road, he saw the Persians running. At that he no longer kept his men in the same order, but ran at the greatest speed—not to the wooden wall, and not to the wall of the Thebans, but toward Phocis, wanting to reach the Hellespont as quickly as he could.

Chapter 67

1These men, then, turned this way. Of the other Greeks who were with the King and were playing the coward, the Boeotians fought the Athenians a long time. For the Thebans who had gone over to the Persians had no small spirit. They fought and did not give way, so much so that three hundred of them, the first and the best men, fell there at the hands of the Athenians. When these too were turned, they fled to Thebes—not by the road by which the Persians and the whole crowd of the other allies fled, who fled without standing to fight anyone and without waiting for anything.

Chapter 68

1This proves to me that everything the foreigners did hung on the Persians. Even then they fled before they had so much as come to grips with their enemies, because they saw the Persians flee. So all of them fled, except the cavalry—both the rest of the cavalry and the Boeotian. The cavalry was of so much help to the men in flight: it always rode closest to the enemy and kept their own men, as they fled, from reaching the Greeks.

Chapter 69

1The victors followed after the men of Xerxes, chasing them and killing them. While this rout was going on, word was brought to the other Greeks—those drawn up around the temple of Hera and left out of the battle—that the battle had been fought and that the men with Pausanias were winning. When they heard this, they set out in no order at all. The Corinthians and their men turned off through the lower slopes of the mountain and the hills, by the road that leads upward toward the temple of Demeter. The Megarians and Phliasians and their men went across the plain, by the smoothest of the roads.

2When the Megarians and Phliasians came near the enemy, the Theban cavalry caught sight of them hurrying along in disorder, and drove their horses straight at them. Asopodorus son of Timander was their commander of horse. In the charge they brought down six hundred of them, and the rest they drove in headlong flight to Cithaeron.

Chapter 70

1These men, then, perished and counted for nothing. The Persians and the rest of the crowd, once they had fled into the wooden wall, were quick to climb the towers before the Lacedaemonians could arrive. Once up, they barred the wall as best they could. When the Lacedaemonians came up, the fight at the wall began, and a fierce one.

2For while the Athenians were still away, the men on the wall held out, and had far the better of the Lacedaemonians, who did not know how to fight at a wall. But when the Athenians came up, the fight at the wall became fierce and lasted a long time. In the end the Athenians, by courage and by their persistence, mounted the wall and broke it open. Through that breach the Greeks poured in.

3The Tegeans were the first to get inside the wall, and they were the ones who plundered the tent of Mardonius, taking everything else in it, and the manger of his horses, which was made of bronze all through and worth looking at. The Tegeans dedicated this manger of Mardonius in the temple of Athena Alea. The other things, all that they took, they likewise handed over to the Greeks.

4When the wall came down, the foreigners no longer formed into any body of troops. Not one of them remembered courage. They thrashed about in terror, penned into a small space, many tens of thousands of men shut in together.

5The Greeks had such a chance to kill that, out of an army of three hundred thousand men—and Artabazus had run away with forty thousand of them—not even three thousand of the rest survived. Of the Lacedaemonians from Sparta, all told, ninety-one died in the battle; of the Tegeans, sixteen; of the Athenians, fifty-two.

Chapter 71

1Of the foreigners, the best infantry was the Persian infantry, and the best cavalry the cavalry of the Sacae. As for the best man, Mardonius is said to have been it. Of the Greeks—and the Tegeans and Athenians also proved brave—the Lacedaemonians surpassed the rest in valor.

2I have no way to single out any man beyond these (for all of them beat the men opposed to them), except to say this: that they fought the strongest of all and beat even these. By our judgment, Aristodemus was by far the bravest. He was the one man saved from the three hundred at Thermopylae, and he carried the disgrace and the dishonor of it. After him the bravest were Poseidonius, Philocyon, and Amompharetus the Spartan.

3And yet, when they talked over which of them had been the bravest, the Spartans present decided this: that Aristodemus, because of the guilt he was under, plainly wanted to die. He raged and left his place in the line, and they gave him credit for great deeds. But Poseidonius did not want to die, and he became a brave man—and they judged him better by just so much.

4But men might say even this out of envy. All these men whom I have named, except Aristodemus, received honor for dying in this battle. Aristodemus, because he wanted to die, for the reason given before, received no honor.

Chapter 72

1These men became the most famous of all who fought at Plataea. Callicrates died outside the battle. He was the handsomest man who had come into the camp of the Greeks of that time—not of the Lacedaemonians alone, but of all the other Greeks as well. While Pausanias was sacrificing, Callicrates was sitting in his place in the line, and he was hit in the side by an arrow and wounded.

2The others fought on. He was carried out of the line, dying a hard death, and he said to Arimnestus, a man of Plataea, that it did not grieve him to die for Hellas, but that he had never used his hand, and that no deed worthy of himself had been won by him, so eager had he been to win one.

Chapter 73

1Of the Athenians, Sophanes son of Eutychides is said to have won great fame. He came from the township of Decelea. The men of Decelea once did a service that has been useful for all time, as the Athenians themselves say.

2For long ago, when the Tyndaridae invaded the land of Attica with a great army to get Helen back, they were laying waste the townships, because they did not know where Helen was hidden. At that time, they say, the Deceleans did this: their man Deceleus, who was angry at Theseus' outrage and afraid for the whole land of the Athenians, explained the whole business to the invaders and led them to Aphidnae, which Titacus, a native of that place, was betraying outright to the Tyndaridae.

3Because of that service, the Deceleans have enjoyed at Sparta, ever since and still to this day, freedom from taxes and the seats of honor. So much so that in the war that came many years later between the Athenians and the Peloponnesians, when the Lacedaemonians were laying waste all the rest of Attica, they kept their hands off Decelea.

Chapter 74

1Sophanes was of that township, and having proved himself brave at that time, two stories are told about him. In one, he wore an iron anchor tied by bronze chains to the belt of his breastplate. Whenever he came close to the enemy, he threw this down, so that the enemy could not knock him out of his place when they broke from their position. And when the enemy fled, the story goes that he would take up the anchor and pursue them so.

2This is the one story. The other story disagrees with the one just told. It says the anchor he wore was on his shield, which was always spinning around and never stood still—and that the anchor was iron and not tied to his breastplate.

Chapter 75

1There is also another brilliant deed to the credit of Sophanes: when the Athenians were besieging Aegina, he killed Eurybates the Argive, a pentathlon athlete, in single combat on a challenge. Sophanes himself was overtaken by death later than these events, having proved a brave man, as general of the Athenians together with Leagrus son of Glaucus; he died at the hands of the Edonians at Daton, fighting over the gold mines.

Chapter 76

1When the Greeks were cutting down the foreigners at Plataea, a woman came over to them who had deserted. She had learned that the Persians were destroyed and the Greeks were winning. She was the concubine of Pharandates son of Teaspis, a Persian. She decked herself and her maids with much gold, and in the finest clothing she had with her, got down from her carriage and walked toward the Lacedaemonians, who were still in the middle of the killing. She could see Pausanias directing it all, and she knew his name and his country beforehand, for she had often heard of him. She picked out Pausanias, took hold of his knees, and said:

2"King of Sparta, rescue me, your suppliant, from the slavery of a captive. You have helped me even here, by destroying these men, who had no regard for the spirits or the gods. I am by birth from Cos, the daughter of Hegesorides son of Antagoras. The Persian seized me by force and kept me on Cos." Pausanias answered as follows:

3"Woman, take courage, both as a suppliant, and besides that, if what you say is true and you are indeed the daughter of Hegesorides the Coan—for he is above all others my guest-friend among the people who live in those parts." When he had said this, he left her for the moment in the hands of the ephors who were present; later he sent her off to Aegina, to the place she wished to reach.

Chapter 77

1After the woman arrived, the Mantineans came right after that, when everything had already been done. When they learned that they had arrived too late for the battle, they put a large fine on themselves and said they deserved to pay it.

2They asked about the Medes who were fleeing with Artabazus and pursued them as far as Thessaly; the Lacedaemonians, however, would not let them chase the fleeing men. So the Mantineans withdrew to their own country, and there they drove the commanders of their army out of the land.

3After the Mantineans came the Eleans, and they too, like the Mantineans, put a fine on themselves and went away; on their way home they also drove out their commanders. So much for what happened with the Mantineans and the Eleans.

Chapter 78

1At Plataea, in the camp of the Aeginetans, there was a man named Lampon son of Pytheas, who ranked first among the Aeginetans. He came up to Pausanias in a hurry, carrying a most unholy proposal, and said the following.

2"Son of Cleombrotus, you have done a deed of unsurpassed greatness and beauty. The god gave you, after you saved Greece, the chance to win the greatest glory we Greeks know of. Now do also what is left to do after this, so that the report about you becomes even greater, and so that in later times no foreigner ever again dares to do wicked deeds against the Greeks.

3"When Leonidas died at Thermopylae, Mardonius and Xerxes cut off his head and put it on a stake. If you give them back the same treatment, you will first have the praise of all the Spartans, and then of all the other Greeks; for by impaling Mardonius you will have avenged your uncle Leonidas."

Chapter 79

1Lampon said this, thinking he was doing Pausanias a favor; Pausanias answered him as follows. "Aeginetan friend, I admire your goodwill and your foresight, but you have made a bad mistake in judgment. You lifted me up high — me, my fatherland, and my deed — and then threw it all down to nothing, when you advise me to abuse a dead body and tell me I will be better spoken of if I do it. Such acts are more fitting for foreigners than for Greeks,

2"and we envy even those men. For my part, then, let me please neither the Aeginetans nor those who like such things. It is enough for me to please the Spartans by doing what is holy and saying what is holy. And Leonidas, whom you tell me to avenge — I say he has been greatly avenged: he and the others who died at Thermopylae have been paid back by the countless lives of these men here. As for you, never again come to me with a speech like this or give me such advice. Be grateful that you are going unpunished."

Chapter 80

1Lampon, having heard this, went away. Pausanias made a proclamation that no one was to touch the spoils, and told the helots to gather the valuables together. The helots spread out through the camp and found tents furnished with gold and silver, couches covered with gold and with silver, golden mixing bowls, libation bowls, and other drinking cups.

2They found sacks on wagons, with gold and silver cauldrons inside. From the dead bodies lying there they stripped armlets, neck chains, and golden daggers; of the patterned clothing nobody took any account at all.

3Here the helots stole many things and sold them to the Aeginetans, and many other things they turned over, whatever of them they could not hide. The great wealth of the Aeginetans began from this point, since they bought the gold from the helots on the pretext that it was bronze.

Chapter 81

1They gathered the valuables together and took out a tenth for the god at Delphi, from which the golden tripod was dedicated, the one that stands on the three-headed bronze serpent, closest to the altar. They took out a tenth for the god at Olympia, from which they dedicated a bronze Zeus ten cubits tall, and a tenth for the god at the Isthmus, from which came a bronze Poseidon seven cubits tall. After taking out these shares, they divided the rest, and each man took as much as he deserved, along with the Persian concubines, the gold and the silver, and the other valuables and beasts of burden.

2What special prizes were given at Plataea to those who had fought best is not reported by anyone; but I think they were given to those men too. Ten of everything was set apart and given to Pausanias: women, horses, talents, camels, and in the same way all the other valuables.

Chapter 82

1This too is said to have happened: when Xerxes fled from Greece, he left his own furnishings behind for Mardonius. When Pausanias saw Mardonius' furnishings, fitted out with gold and silver and patterned hangings, he told the bakers and the cooks to prepare a dinner exactly as they had prepared it for Mardonius.

2When they did as they were told, Pausanias saw the golden and silver couches nicely spread, the golden and silver tables, and the magnificent preparation of the dinner. Astonished at the good things laid out, he told his own servants, as a joke, to prepare a Laconian dinner.

3When the Laconian meal was served, the difference between the two was enormous. Pausanias laughed and sent for the generals of the Greeks. When they had gathered, Pausanias pointed to each of the two dinner arrangements and said: "Men of Greece, this is why I gathered you: I wanted you to see the foolishness of this leader of the Medes, who, keeping such a way of life, came to take ours away from us, who live so wretchedly." This is what Pausanias is said to have said to the generals of the Greeks.

Chapter 83

1At a later time after this, many Plataeans also found chests of gold and silver and other valuables.

2This too came to light later, after the flesh had been stripped off the corpses and the Plataeans were carrying the bones together into one place. A head was found that had no seams at all but was made of a single bone. An upper jaw also appeared, with all its teeth — the front teeth and the molars alike — grown from one single piece of bone. And the bones of a man five cubits tall appeared.

Chapter 84

1Mardonius' body disappeared on the second day; exactly by what men I cannot say. But I have heard that many different men buried Mardonius, and I know that many received great gifts from Artontes, the son of Mardonius, for doing this.

2Which of them it was who carried off and buried Mardonius' body I cannot find out for certain; there is also a report that Dionysophanes, a man of Ephesus, buried Mardonius. This, then, is how he was buried.

Chapter 85

1After the Greeks divided the spoils at Plataea, each people buried their own dead separately. The Lacedaemonians made three graves. In one of them they buried the young officers, the men they call irens; among these were Posidonius, Amompharetus, Philocyon, and Callicrates.

2In one of the graves were the irens; in the second, the other Spartans; and in the third, the helots. That is how the Lacedaemonians buried their dead. The Tegeans buried all of theirs separately, the Athenians all of theirs together, and the Megarians and the Phliasians buried the men killed by the cavalry.

3All of these graves were full. As for the other mounds that can be seen at Plataea and look like graves, I learn that each people filled them in with earth out of shame at having missed the battle, for the sake of the people who would come later. There is even a grave there called the grave of the Aeginetans, and I hear that it too was filled in ten years after these events, when the Aeginetans asked Cleades son of Autodicus, a Plataean who was their proxenos, to fill it.

Chapter 86

1When the Greeks had buried the dead at Plataea, they took counsel at once, and it seemed best to them to march against Thebes and demand from the Thebans the men who had sided with the Medes — first of all Timagenides and Attaginus, who had been the ringleaders of them all — and, if the Thebans would not hand them over, not to leave the city before they had taken them out.

2This having been decided, on the eleventh day after the battle they came and laid siege to the Thebans, demanding that they hand over the men. The Thebans refused to hand them over, so the Greeks cut down their land and attacked their wall.

Chapter 87

1And since the Greeks did not stop plundering, on the twentieth day Timagenides spoke to the Thebans as follows. "Men of Thebes, since the Greeks have decided not to end the siege until they either take Thebes or you hand us over to them, then let us take care that the land of Boeotia is not filled with ruin on our account.

2"If they are demanding us as a pretext because they want money, let us give them money out of the public treasury — for we sided with the Medes along with the community, and we were not the only ones. But if they are truly besieging the city because they want us, then we will put ourselves forward to stand trial." This seemed to the Thebans very well said and timely, and at once they sent heralds to Pausanias, ready to hand over the men.

Chapter 88

1When the Thebans agreed to these terms, Attaginus slipped out of the city. His sons were seized, but Pausanias released them from the charge, saying that children were in no way partners in the guilt of siding with the Medes. The other men whom the Thebans handed over had expected to get a hearing at a trial and had put their hope in being bought off with money. But Pausanias, suspecting exactly this, sent away the whole army of the allies as soon as he received them, took the men to Corinth, and put them to death. Such were the events at Plataea and Thebes.

Chapter 89

1Artabazus son of Pharnaces, fleeing from Plataea, had soon traveled a long way. When he reached them, the Thessalians invited him to eat as their guest and asked him about the rest of the army, knowing nothing of what had happened at Plataea.

2Artabazus realized that if he told them the whole truth about what had happened, he would be risking his own destruction and that of the army with him — for he believed that everyone who learned what had happened would attack him. Weighing this, he told the Phocians nothing at all either, and said the following to the Thessalians:

3"Men of Thessaly, as you can see, I am hurrying at top speed on my way to Thrace and am in a great hurry, having been sent from the camp on some business, with these men here. Mardonius himself, with his army, is expected to come right after me, following on my heels. Receive him as your guest, and you will show yourselves to be doing good; you will not regret it later."

4After saying this, he drove his army at speed through Thessaly and Macedonia toward Thrace, truly in a hurry, cutting straight across country on the way. He reached Byzantium, having left many of his own army beaten to death by Thracians along the road and wasted by hunger and exhaustion. From Byzantium he crossed over in ships. That is how he made his way back to Asia.

Chapter 90

1On the very same day as the battle at Plataea, it happened that there was a battle at Mycale in Ionia as well. For when the Greeks in the ships put in at Delos, coming in with Leotychides the Lacedaemonian, messengers came to them from Samos: Lampon son of Thrasycles, Athenagoras son of Archestratides, and Hegesistratus son of Aristagoras. The Samians had sent them secretly, without the Persians knowing or the tyrant Theomestor son of Androdamas, whom the Persians had made tyrant of Samos.

2When the messengers came before the generals, Hegesistratus said much and spoke of many things: that if the Ionians only caught sight of them, they would revolt from the Persians, and that the foreigners would not stand and fight; and if by chance they did stand, the Greeks would never find better prey. Calling on the gods in common, he urged them to rescue Greek men from slavery and drive back the foreigner.

3He said this would be easy for them: the foreign ships sailed badly and were no match for the Greek ships. And the Samians themselves, if the Greeks suspected that they were being led on by a trick, were ready to be taken as hostages on board the Greek ships.

Chapter 91

1After the Samian stranger had begged long and hard, Leotychides asked him — whether he wanted to find out because of the omen of a name, or whether it just happened so, with the god at work — "Samian friend, what is your name?" He answered: "Hegesistratus."

2Leotychides cut off the rest of the speech — whatever Hegesistratus was about to say — and said: "I accept the omen of your name, Hegesistratus, Samian friend. Now do this for us: give us your pledge and sail away, you yourself and these men with you, promising that the Samians will be eager allies for us."

Chapter 92

1He said all this and pressed the matter forward at the same time. Immediately the Samians gave pledges and swore oaths to the Greeks about the alliance.

2When this was done, they sailed off. Leotychides ordered Hegesistratus to sail with them, taking his very name as a good omen.

Chapter 93

1The Greeks waited that day, and on the next day they offered their sacrifices and took the omens, with Deiphonus son of Euenius, a man of Apollonia, acting as their seer — the Apollonia on the Ionian gulf. This man's father Euenius had the following thing happen to him. In this Apollonia there are sheep sacred to the sun. By day they graze beside the river Chon, which flows from Mount Lacmon through the land of Apollonia down to the sea by the harbor of Oricus. By night they are guarded by men chosen from the townspeople, the men most respected for wealth and family; each of them serves for one year. The Apollonians value these sheep highly because of a certain oracle. The guards spend the night in a cave away from the city.

2This Euenius was once chosen to be one of these guards. One night he fell asleep at his post, and wolves came into the cave and killed about sixty of the sheep. When he discovered it, he said nothing to anyone, planning to buy other sheep and put them in their place.

3But the Apollonians did not fail to learn what had happened. When they found out, they brought him before a court and convicted him of falling asleep at his watch, and they took away his sight. After they blinded Euenius, immediately after this their sheep bore no young, and the earth bore no crops as before.

4The matter was made plain to them through signs at both Dodona and Delphi, when they asked the oracles the cause of the evil that was upon them. The oracles told them that they had wrongly blinded Euenius, the guard of the sacred sheep; that the gods themselves had set the wolves on him; and that the gods would not stop punishing them until they paid Euenius for what they had done, with a payment such as he himself would choose and judge to be just. When that was done, the gods would give Euenius such a gift that many people would count him blessed.

Chapter 94

1This was the answer the oracles gave them. The Apollonians kept it secret and set certain men from the town to arrange the matter. These men arranged it this way: they came and sat beside Euenius while he was sitting in his usual spot, talked about other things, and little by little turned to grieving with him over what had happened. Then, working around to the point, they asked what penalty he would choose if the Apollonians were willing to pay him for what they had done.

2Euenius had not heard the oracle. He made his choice: he named the townspeople whose two estates he knew to be the finest in Apollonia and asked that they be given to him, and in addition the house he knew to be the finest in the city. If he became the owner of these, he said, he would no longer hold any grudge, and this penalty would be enough for him.

3While he was saying this, the men sitting with him answered: "Euenius, the Apollonians are paying you this penalty for blinding you, in accordance with the oracles that were given." He was terribly upset at this, because he then learned the whole story and saw that he had been cheated. But the men bought the property from its owners and gave him what he had chosen. And immediately after this he had a natural gift of prophecy, so that he became well known.

Chapter 95

1This Deiphonus, the son of this Euenius, was brought along by the Corinthians and gave the divinations for the army. But this too I have heard: that Deiphonus had borrowed Euenius' name and was taking pay for his work in Greece, though he was not the son of Euenius.

Chapter 96

1When the Greeks had completed their sacrifices, they raised anchor at Delos and sailed for Samos. When they reached the Samian coast off Calamisa, some of them anchored there by the Heraion and prepared for a naval battle. The Persians, learning that they were coming, also raised anchor and brought the rest of their ships to the mainland, and let the Phoenician ships sail away. For in their deliberations they had decided not to fight a naval battle,

2because they did not think they were a match for the Greeks. So they sailed to the mainland, so as to be under the protection of their own land army at Mycale — the force left behind from the rest of the army, at Xerxes' command, to guard Ionia. It numbered sixty thousand men, and its general was Tigranes, who was taller and more handsome than the other Persians.

3To this army the commanders of the fleet decided to flee for protection. Their plan was to haul the ships ashore and build a fence around them, a rampart that would be a refuge both for the ships and for themselves.

Chapter 97

1Having made this plan, they weighed anchor. They came to the sanctuary of the Potniae at Mycale, to Gaesona and Scolopoeis, where there is a temple of Demeter of Eleusis, which Philistus son of Pasicles founded when he followed Neileus son of Codrus to the founding of Miletus. There they hauled the ships ashore and built a fence of stones and wood, cutting down cultivated trees for the purpose, and drove stakes around the fence. They prepared both for a siege and for victory, for they made ready counting on both outcomes.

Chapter 98

1When the Greeks learned that the foreigners had gone off to the mainland, they were angry that they had slipped away, and they were at a loss what to do: whether to sail back home or to sail down to the Hellespont. In the end they decided to do neither of these two things, but to sail against the mainland.

2So they prepared for a sea battle, and for landings of troops, and for everything else they needed, and they sailed toward Mycale. When they came near the camp and no one came out to meet them, and they saw the ships hauled up inside the wall and a large force of infantry drawn up along the shore, then, sailing past in his ship and holding it as close to the shore as he could, Leotychides first had a herald proclaim to the Ionians, saying:

3"Men of Ionia, you who happen to be listening, learn what I say; for the Persians will understand nothing at all of what I command you. When we close in battle, each man must remember freedom first of all, and after that the watchword 'Hebe.' And let even the man of you who has not heard this learn it from the one who has."

4This plan turned out to be the very one Themistocles had at Artemisium: for either the words would escape the notice of the foreigners, and he would persuade the Ionians; or, once they were carried to the foreigners, they would make the Ionians untrustworthy to the Greeks.

Chapter 99

1When Leotychides had put forward these words, then the Greeks did this next: they brought their ships in to land and disembarked on the shore, and these men were forming up for battle. The Persians, when they saw the Greeks preparing for battle and urging on the Ionians, suspected from this that the Samians were of the Greeks' mind, and they took away the Samians' weapons.

2For the Samians had ransomed Athenian prisoners who were on the foreigners' ships, men whom Xerxes had left behind in Attica when he captured them, and they sent them all off to Athens, providing for them on the road; it was for this reason, not least, that they were under suspicion, since they had ransomed five hundred of Xerxes' enemies.

3And the Persians ordered the Milesians to guard the passes that led up to the peaks of Mycale, on the claim that they knew the country best of all. They did this for one reason: so that the Milesians would be outside the camp. In this way the Persians guarded against these Ionians, whom they also suspected might do something new if they got the chance, and they themselves piled up their wicker shields as a wall for themselves.

Chapter 100

1But when the Greeks were ready, they sailed toward the foreigners. As they went, a report swept into the whole camp, and a heron appeared sitting on the wave-beaten shore. The report that went through them was this: that the Greeks were defeating Mardonius' army in Boeotia, in a battle there.

2That the divine is at work in these things is clear from many proofs, including this: at that very time, when the battle at Plataea and the battle at Mycale were about to fall on the same day, the report came to the Greeks on this spot too, so that the army took much more courage and was more eager to run the risk.

Chapter 101

1And one more thing happened that fits: there was a precinct of Demeter of Eleusis by both places where the armies met. For at Plataea the battle happened right at the temple of Demeter, as I have said earlier, and at Mycale it was going to happen in the same way.

2The report that came to them turned out to be true, that the Greeks with Pausanias had won a victory. For the battle at Plataea happened in the morning, while it was still early in the day, and the one at Mycale happened in the late afternoon. That the two fell on the same day and in the same month became clear to them later, when they learned the facts not long after.

3Before the report arrived, they were afraid, not so much about themselves as about the Greeks, that Greece might stumble over Mardonius. But once this message had swept in to them, they pressed on more boldly and faster. So Greeks and foreigners alike were hurrying into battle, since for them the islands and the Hellespont were the prizes set out.

Chapter 102

1For the Athenians and the troops drawn up next to them, for about half of the way, the route ran along the shore and over level ground; for the Lacedaemonians and the troops drawn up after them, it ran through a ravine and over hills. While the Lacedaemonians were making their way around, these men on the other wing were still fighting.

2As long as the Persians' wicker shields stood upright, they defended themselves and were not at all worse off in the battle. But when the army of the Athenians and their neighbors, calling to one another to make the deed theirs and not the Lacedaemonians', set to the work more eagerly, from that moment the situation changed.

3For when these men pushed aside the wicker shields and rushed in upon the Persians in a mass, the Persians held their ground and defended themselves for a long time, but in the end they fled to the wall. The Athenians, Corinthians, Sicyonians, and Troezenians, for they were drawn up in this order, pursued close behind and broke into the wall together. And once the wall too was taken, the foreigners no longer turned to fight, and all the rest except the Persians rushed into flight.

4The Persians, forming up in small groups, fought against the Greeks who kept bursting into the wall. Of the Persian commanders, two escaped and two died in the fighting: Artayntes and Ithamitres, who commanded the fleet, escaped, but Mardonius and Tigranes, the commander of the land force, died fighting.

Chapter 103

1While the Persians were still fighting, the Lacedaemonians and those with them came up and helped finish off the rest. Many of the Greeks themselves fell there as well, among them Sicyonians, and the commander Perilaus.

2The Samians who were serving in the Median camp, disarmed though they had been, saw at once that the battle was turning against the Persians from the very start, and they did all they could to help the Greeks, wanting to be of use. The other Ionians, seeing the Samians lead the way in this, also broke away from the Persians and fell upon the foreigners.

Chapter 104

1The Persians had assigned the Milesians to guard the passes, for the Milesians' own safety, on this reasoning: that if what had happened to the others should happen to them too, they might save themselves with guides up to the peaks of Mycale. The Milesians were set to this task for that reason, and also so that they would not be present in the camp and do something new. But they did the exact opposite of what they had been ordered: they led the fleeing men onto other roads, roads that led to the enemy, and in the end they themselves turned out to be the ones killing them, their worst enemies. So for the second time Ionia broke away from the Persians.

Chapter 105

1In this battle the Athenians proved best of the Greeks, and among the Athenians Hermolycus son of Euthoinus, a man who had trained in the pankration. It came out later, in a war between the Athenians and the Carystians, that this Hermolycus had died in a battle in Curnus, in the land of Carystus, and that his body lay near Geraestus. After the Athenians, the Corinthians, Troezenians, and Sicyonians proved best.

Chapter 106

1When the Greeks had done away with most of the foreigners, some fighting and some fleeing, they burned the ships and the whole wall, after carrying the plunder out to the shore first, and they found some treasuries of money. After burning the wall and the ships, they sailed off.

2When the Greeks came to Samos, they debated uprooting Ionia: they would transplant the Ionians to whatever lands of Greece they themselves controlled, and leave Ionia to the foreigners. For it seemed to them impossible that they themselves could hold the Ionians down forever with garrisons, and they had no hope that the Ionians, if they were not held down, would ever get away from the Persians glad and unharmed.

3On this, the Peloponnesians who held power proposed to uproot the trading towns of the Greek peoples who had sided with the Medes and give their land to the Ionians to live in; the Athenians did not think that Ionia should be emptied out in the first place, nor that the Peloponnesians should decide about Athens' own colonies. As both sides held to their views eagerly, the Peloponnesians gave way.

4And in this way they brought the Samians, Chians, Lesbians, and the other islanders who chanced to be on campaign with the Greeks into the alliance, taking from them pledges and oaths to stay loyal and not defect. Having taken this oath from them, they sailed off to break up the bridges, for they still thought they would find them stretched in place. These men, then, sailed for the Hellespont.

Chapter 107

1The foreigners who had escaped to the crags of Mycale and been caught there, and they were not many, were being taken under guard to Sardis. Masistes son of Darius, going along the road, came upon the commander Artayntes and, faced with what had happened, heaped many evil words on him: among other things he said that he was worse than a woman for having led a campaign in such a way, and that he deserved every evil for having harmed the king's house. Among the Persians, to be told you are worse than a woman is the greatest disgrace.

2When he had heard many such words, Artayntes took them badly and drew his dagger at Masistes, wanting to kill him. Xenagoras son of Praxilaus, a man of Halicarnassus, standing behind Artayntes, saw him rushing at Masistes, seized him in the middle, lifted him up, and dashed him to the ground; and meanwhile Masistes' spearmen came to his side.

3Xenagoras did this act to gain favor for himself both with Masistes and with Xerxes, since he had saved Xerxes' brother; and because of this deed, with the king's grant, Xenagoras became ruler of all Cilicia. Nothing more than this came of the men on that journey; they arrived at Sardis.

Chapter 108

1Now it happened that the king was in Sardis from that time on, since he had stumbled in the sea battle off Athens and fled there. So while he was in Sardis, he fell in love with Masistes' wife, who was also there. When his messages could not get her for him, he did not bring force to bear either, out of regard for his brother Masistes; and the woman counted on the same thing: she knew very well that force would not be used on her. So Xerxes, amid his other affairs, arranged this marriage for his own son Darius, taking the daughter of that woman and of Masistes, believing that she would be more inclined to him if he did this.

2After he had joined them in marriage and done the customary things, he drove off to Susa. When he had arrived there and had brought the woman home to his own house for Darius, that is how he let go of Masistes' wife: he had made the exchange, and he now loved and possessed the wife of Darius and daughter of Masistes. The name of this woman was Artaynte.

Chapter 109

1As time went on, the truth came out in this way. Amestris, Xerxes' wife, wove a great robe, many-colored and worth seeing, and gave it to Xerxes. He was pleased, put it on, and went to Artaynte.

2He was pleased with her too, and he told her to ask for whatever she wanted as payment for the services she had done him, for she would get everything she asked for. But for her, since it was fated that her whole house would come to ruin, she said to Xerxes: "Will you give me what I ask of you?" He, thinking she would ask for anything but that, promised and swore. Then, once he had sworn, she asked for the robe without fear.

3Xerxes turned every way, not wanting to give it, for no other reason than that he feared Amestris: that she might by now have guessed what was going on, and it would come out that he was doing this. So he offered her a city, and gold without limit, and an army that no one but she would ever command. An army is a most Persian gift. But since he could not persuade her, he gave her the robe. She was overjoyed at the gift, wore it, and gloried in it.

Chapter 110

1Amestris found out that she had it. When she learned what was going on, she held no grudge against the girl, but, believing that the girl's mother was the cause and that it was she who had done all this, she plotted destruction for Masistes' wife.

2She waited for the day when her husband Xerxes set out his royal dinner. This dinner is prepared once a year, on the day the king was born. This dinner is called in Persian "tukta," which in the Greek language means "complete." On this one day the king alone anoints his head, and he gives gifts to the Persians. Amestris waited for this day, and then asked Xerxes to have Masistes' wife handed over to her.

3He thought this terrible and monstrous: to hand over his brother's wife, and a woman who was innocent of this whole matter; for he understood why she was asking.

Chapter 111

1Yet in the end, she kept pressing him, and the law pressed him too, since once the royal dinner has been served, the one who asks a favor cannot fail to get it, he nodded yes, very much against his will. And having conceded, he acted this way: he told her to do what she wanted, and he sent for his brother and said these things:

2"Masistes, you are the son of Darius and my brother, and besides that you are a good man. Do not live with this wife you now live with; instead, I give you my own daughter in her place. Live with her. But the wife you now have, she does not please me; do not keep her as your wife."

3Masistes, greatly amazed at what was said, answered as follows: "Master, what useless words you are saying to me, telling me to give up my wife, by whom I have young sons and daughters, one of whom you yourself married to your own son, and who is herself entirely to my mind; and you tell me to turn around and marry your daughter?"

4"I, king, do count it a great thing to be asking for your daughter, but I will do neither of these things. And in a matter like this you will never need to use force; some other man no less than I will appear for your daughter, and let me live on with my wife."

5Masistes made this answer; but Xerxes spoke in anger: "That is how you burn, Masistes: I would not give you my daughter to marry in any case, and you will not live with that woman any longer either, so that you may learn to accept what is given." When Masistes heard this, he said only this and walked out: "Master, you have utterly destroyed me already."

Chapter 112

1In the meantime, while Xerxes was talking with his brother, Amestris sent for Xerxes' spearmen and mutilated Masistes' wife: she cut off her breasts and threw them to the dogs, and cut off her nose, ears, lips, and tongue, and sent her home horribly mutilated.

Chapter 113

1Masistes had heard nothing of this yet, but he suspected some evil had come to him, and he ran at full speed to the house. When he saw his wife mutilated, he at once took counsel with his children and set out for Bactra, taking his own sons and also certain others, intending to make the Bactrian district revolt and to do the king the greatest harm.

2Which, as it seems to me, would have happened too, if he had been the first to go up among the Bactrians and the Sacae; for they were fond of him, and he was governor of the Bactrians. But Xerxes learned what he was doing, sent an army against him, and killed him on the road, him, his sons, and his army. Such, then, were the things that came of Xerxes' passion and of Masistes' death.

Chapter 114

1The Greeks who had set out from Mycale first put in near Lectum, caught by headwinds; from there they came to Abydos, and they found the bridges torn down, which they had thought to find still stretched in place, and it was for this, not least, that they had come to the Hellespont.

2The Peloponnesians with Leotychides decided to sail away to Greece; the Athenians and their general Xanthippus decided to stay behind and try for the Chersonese. So those men sailed off, while the Athenians crossed from Abydos to the Chersonese and besieged Sestos.

Chapter 115

1Into this Sestos, which had the strongest wall of all the places there, people came together when they heard that the Greeks were at the Hellespont: men from the other towns round about, and from the city of Cardia too Oeobazus, a Persian, who had carried the gear from the bridges to this place. Native Aeolians held the city, and gathered there were Persians and a large crowd of the other allies.

Chapter 116

1The governor of this district under Xerxes was Artayctes, a Persian, a wicked and crafty man, the man who had also cheated the king as he drove against Athens, by carrying off the money of Protesilaus son of Iphiclus from Elaeus.

2For in Elaeus in the Chersonese there is a tomb of Protesilaus and a precinct around it, and there was much money there, bowls of gold and silver, bronze, clothing, and other offerings, all of which Artayctes plundered, the king having given it to him. He had won Xerxes over by speaking words like these:

3"Master, there is here the house of a Greek man, who marched against your land and, meeting the justice due to him, died. Give me his house, so that people may learn not to march against your land." By saying this he easily got Xerxes to give him a man's house, since the king suspected nothing of what he was really after. And when Artayctes said that Protesilaus had marched against the king's land, this is what he meant: the Persians hold that all Asia is theirs and their ever-reigning king's. Once the house was given him, he carried the money out of Elaeus to Sestos, and he sowed the precinct and grazed his herds on it; and whenever he came to Elaeus himself, he lay with the women in the inner room. Then it was that the Athenians besieged him, when he was neither prepared for a siege nor expecting the Greeks, and somehow it fell upon him past escape.

Chapter 117

1When autumn came upon them during the siege, the Athenians began to grow restless. They were away from their own homes, and they could not take the wall. They pressed the generals to lead them back. The generals said they would not do that until they had either taken the city or the Athenian people sent for them. So the men stayed, and bore with the situation.

Chapter 118

1The men inside the wall had now been driven to every kind of misery. They boiled the cords of their beds and ate them. When they had not even those anymore, they got away by night. The Persians, with Artayctes and Oeobazus, went down from the back of the wall, at the point where the enemy were fewest.

2When day came, the Chersonesites signaled to the Athenians from the towers what had happened, and opened the gates. Most of the Athenians set out in pursuit, and the rest held the city.

Chapter 119

1Oeobazus fled into Thrace, but the Apsinthian Thracians caught him and sacrificed him to Pleistorus, a god of their own country, in their own manner. The men who were with him they killed in a different manner.

2The men around Artayctes set out in flight later. They were caught a little above the Aegos River. They defended themselves for a long time; some of them died, and others were taken alive. The Greeks bound them and led them away to Sestos, and with them they led Artayctes himself, bound, and his son as well.

Chapter 120

1The Chersonesites say that a strange sign happened to one of the guards as he roasted salt fish: the fish lying on the fire jumped and gasped, just like fish newly caught.

2The others crowded around and were amazed. Artayctes, when he saw the sign, called to the man who was roasting the fish and said, "Athenian stranger, do not be at all afraid of this sign. It did not appear for your sake. It is Protesilaus at Elaeus giving me a sign that, dead as he is and salt fish as he is now, he has power from the gods to make the man who wrongs him pay.

3Now then, I am willing to pay compensation for these things: in place of the money I took from the temple, I will deposit a hundred talents for the god; and in place of myself and my son, I will give the Athenians two hundred talents, if I escape with my life."

4He promised all this, but he did not persuade the general Xanthippus. The people of Elaeus, seeking vengeance for Protesilaus, demanded that he be put to death, and the general himself was of the same mind. They led him away to Xerxes' bridge over the strait, and hanged him—some say on the hill above the city of Madytus—nailing him to boards. They killed his son before Artayctes' eyes.

Chapter 121

1After doing this they sailed away to Greece. They carried the rest of the money with them, and also the gear of the bridges, intending to dedicate it in the temples. And nothing more than this happened in that year.

Chapter 122

1The ancestor of this Artayctes who was hanged was Artembares, the man who laid before the Persians the plan which they adopted and brought to Cyrus. He spoke as follows.

2"Since Zeus has given the Persians empire, and to you, Cyrus, rule over men, now that you have beaten Astyages, come: the land we hold is small, and rough too. Let us move out of it and take a better one. There are many lands close to ours, and many farther off. If we take one of them, we will be admired by far more people. Men who rule ought to do such things. And when will a better chance ever come than now, when we rule many men and all of Asia?"

3Cyrus heard this and did not think the speech anything remarkable, but he told them to do it. This was the advice he gave them as he ordered it: they must make ready, not as men whose rule was finished, but as men whose rule was just beginning. He said that men from soft lands tend to turn out soft. The same land, he said, does not grow both a wonderful crop and men who are good in war.

4So the Persians gave in and went away, giving up the plan. Cyrus had beaten them in argument. They chose to live in a hard land and rule, rather than to sow a plain and be slaves to others.

Chapter 1

1When Alexander returned and told him what he had heard from the Athenians, Mardonius set forth from Thessaly and led his army with all zeal against Athens; he also took with him all the people to whose countries he came along the way. The rulers of Thessaly did not repent of what they had already done and were readier than before to further his march. Thorax of Larissa, who had given Xerxes safe-conduct in his flight, now, without any attempt of concealment, opened a passage for Mardonius into Hellas.

Chapter 2

1But when, in the course of its march, the army had come into Boeotia, the Thebans attempted to stay Mardonius, advising him that he could find no country better fitted than theirs for encampment; he should not (they begged) go further, but rather halt there and subdue all Hellas without fighting.

2As long as the Greeks who were previously in accord remained so, it would be difficult even for the whole world to overcome them by force of arms; “but if you do as we advise,” said the Thebans, “you will without trouble be master of all their battle plans.

3Send money to the men who have power in their cities, and thereby you will divide Hellas against itself; after that, with your partisans to aid you, you will easily subdue those who are your adversaries.”

Chapter 3

1Such was their counsel, but he would not follow it. What he desired was to take Athens once more; this was partly out of mere perversity, and partly because he intended to signify to the king at Sardis by a line of beacons across the islands that he held Athens.

2When he came to Attica, however, he found the city as unpopulated as before, for, as he learned, the majority of them were on shipboard at Salamis. So he took the city, but without any of its men. There were ten months between the kings taking of the place and the later invasion of Mardonius.

Chapter 4

1When Mardonius came to Athens, he sent to Salamis a certain Murychides, a man from Hellespont, bearing the same offer as Alexander the Macedonian had ferried across to the Athenians.

2He sent this for the second time because although he already knew the Athenians' unfriendly purpose, he expected that they would abandon their stubbornness now that Attica was the captive of his spear and lay at his mercy.

Chapter 5

1For this reason he sent Murychides to Salamis who came before the council and conveyed to them Mardonius message. Then Lycidas, one of the councillors, said that it seemed best to him to receive the offer brought to them by Murychides and lay it before the people.

2This was the opinion which he declared, either because he had been bribed by Mardonius, or because the plan pleased him. The Athenians in the council were, however, very angry; so too were those outside when they heard of it. They made a ring round Lycidas and stoned him to death. Murychides the Hellespontian, however, they permitted to depart unharmed.

3There was much noise at Salamis over the business of Lycidas; and when the Athenian women learned what was afoot, one calling to another and bidding her follow, they went on their own impetus to the house of Lycidas and stoned to death his wife and his children.

Chapter 6

1Now this was how the Athenians had crossed over to Salamis. As long as they expected that the Peloponnesian army would come to their aid, they remained in Attica. But when the Peloponnesians took longer and longer to act and the invader was said to be in Boeotia already, they then conveyed all their goods out of harms way and themselves crossed over to Salamis. They also sent envoys to Lacedaemon, who were to upbraid the Lacedaemonians for permitting the barbarian to invade Attica and not helping the Athenians to meet him in Boeotia; and who were to remind the Lacedaemonians of the promises which the Persian had made to Athens if she would change sides, and warn them that the Athenians would devise some means of salvation for themselves if the Lacedaemonians sent them no help.

Chapter 7

1The Lacedaemonians were at this time celebrating the festival of Hyacinthus, and their chief concern was to give the god his due; moreover, the wall which they were building on the Isthmus was by now getting its battlements. When the Athenian envoys arrived in Lacedaemon, bringing with them envoys from Megara and Plataea, they came before the ephors and said:

Chapter 7A

1“The Athenians have sent us with this message: the king of the Medes is ready to give us back our country, and to make us his confederates, equal in right and standing, in all honor and honesty, and to give us whatever land we ourselves may choose besides our own.

2But we, since we do not want to sin against Zeus the god of Hellas and think it shameful to betray Hellas, have not consented. This we have done despite the fact that the Greeks are dealing with us wrongfully and betraying us to our hurt; furthermore, we know that it is more to our advantage to make terms with the Persians than to wage war with him, yet we will not make terms with him of our own free will. For our part, we act honestly by the Greeks;

Chapter 7B

1but what of you, who once were in great dread lest we should make terms with the Persian? Now that you have a clear idea of our sentiments and are sure that we will never betray Hellas, and now that the wall which you are building across the Isthmus is nearly finished, you take no account of the Athenians, but have deserted us despite all your promises that you would withstand the Persian in Boeotia, and have permitted the barbarian to march into Attica.

2For the present, then, the Athenians are angry with you since you have acted in a manner unworthy of you. Now they ask you to send with us an army with all speed, so that we may await the foreigner's onset in Attica; since we have lost Boeotia, in our own territory the most suitable place for a battle is the Thriasian plain.”

Chapter 8

1When the ephors heard that, they delayed answering till the next day, and again till the day after. This they did for ten days, putting it off from day to day. In the meantime all the Peloponnesians were doing all they could to fortify the Isthmus, and they had nearly completed the task.

2I cannot say for certain why it was that when Alexander the Macedonian came to Athens the Lacedaemonians insisted that the Athenians should not join the side of the Persian, yet now took no account of that; it may be that with the Isthmus fortified, they thought they had no more need of the Athenians, whereas when Alexander came to Attica, their wall was not yet built and they were working at this in great fear of the Persians.

Chapter 9

1The nature of their response was as follows: on the day before the final hearing of the Athenian delegation, Chileus, a man of Tegea, who had more authority with the Lacedaemonians than any other of their guests, learned from the ephors all that the Athenians had said.

2Upon hearing this he, as the tale goes, said to the ephors, “Sirs, if the Athenians are our enemies and the barbarians allies, then although you push a strong wall across the Isthmus, a means of access into the Peloponnese lies wide open for the Persian. No, give heed to what they say before the Athenians take some new resolve which will bring calamity to Hellas.”

Chapter 10

1This was the counsel he gave the ephors, who straightway took it to heart. Without saying a word to the envoys who had come from the cities, they ordered five thousand Spartans to march before dawn. Seven helots were appointed to attend each of them, and they gave the command to Pausanias son of Cleombrotus.

2The leader's place rightfully belonged to Pleistarchus son of Leonidas, but he was still a boy, and Pausanias his guardian and cousin. Cleombrotus, Pausanias' father and Anaxandrides' son, was no longer living.

3After he led the army which had built the wall away from the Isthmus, he lived but a little while before his death. The reason for Cleombrotus leading his army away from the Isthmus was that while he was offering sacrifice for victory over the Persian, the sun was darkened in the heavens. Pausanias chose as his colleague a man of the same family, Euryanax son of Dorieus.

Chapter 11

1So Pausanias' army had marched away from Sparta; but as soon as it was day, the envoys came before the ephors, having no knowledge of the expedition, and being minded themselves too to depart each one to his own place. When they arrived, “You Lacedaemonians,” they said, “remain where you are, observing your Hyacinthia and celebrating, leaving your allies deserted. For the wrong that you do them and for lack of allies, the Athenians, will make their peace with the Persian as best they can,

2and thereafter, in so far as we will be king's allies, we will march with him against whatever land his men lead us. Then will you learn what the issue of this matter will be for you.” In response to this the ephors swore to them that they believed their army to be even now at Orestheum, marching against the “strangers,” as they called the barbarians.

3Having no knowledge of this, the envoys questioned them further as to the meaning of this and thereby learned the whole truth; they marvelled at this and hastened with all speed after the army. With them went five thousand men-at-arms of the Lacedaemonian countrymen.

Chapter 12

1So they made haste to reach the Isthmus. The Argives, however, had already promised Mardonius that they would prevent the Spartans from going out to war. As soon as they were informed that Pausanias and his army had departed from Sparta, they sent as their herald to Attica the swiftest runner of long distances whom they could find.

2When he came to Athens, he spoke to Mardonius in the following manner: “I have been sent by the Argives to tell you that the young men have gone out from Lacedaemon to war, and that the Argives cannot prevent them from so doing; therefore, make plans accordingly.”

Chapter 13

1So spoke the herald, and went back again. When Mardonius heard that, he no longer desired to remain in Attica. Before he had word of it, he had held his land, desiring to know the Athenians' plan and what they would do; he neither harmed nor harried the land of Attica, for he still supposed that they would make terms with him.

2But when he could not prevail upon them and learned the truth of the matter, he withdrew before Pausanias' army prior to its entering the Isthmus. First, however, he burnt Athens, and utterly overthrew and demolished whatever wall or house or temple was left standing.

3The reason for his marching away was that Attica was not a land fit for horses, and if he should be defeated in a battle, there was no way of retreat save one so narrow that a few men could prevent his passage. He therefore planned to retreat to Thebes and do battle where he had a friendly city at his back and ground suitable for horsemen.

Chapter 14

1So Mardonius drew his men off, and when he had now set forth on his road there came a message that in addition to the others, an advance guard of a thousand Lacedaemonians had arrived at Megara. When he heard this, he deliberated how he might first make an end of these. He accordingly turned about and led his army against Megara, his cavalry going first and overrunning the lands of that city. That was the westernmost place in Europe which this Persian army reached.

Chapter 15

1Presently there came a message to Mardonius that the Greeks were gathered together on the Isthmus. Thereupon he marched back again through Decelea; the rulers of Boeotia sent for those of the Asopus country who lived nearby, and these guided him to Sphendalae and from there to Tanagra.

2Here he camped for the night, and on the next day he turned from there to Scolus, where he was in Theban territory. There he laid waste the lands of the Thebans, though they sided with the Persian part. This he did, not for any ill-will that he bore them, but because sheer necessity drove him to make a stronghold for his army and to have this for a refuge if the fortune of battle were other than he wished.

3His army, stationed along the Asopus river, covered the ground from Erythrae past Hysiae and up to the lands of Plataea. I do not mean to say that the walled camp which he made was of this size; each side of it was of a length of about ten furlongs.

Chapter 16

1While the barbarians were engaged in this task, Attaginus son of Phrynon, a Theban, made great preparations and invited Mardonius with fifty who were the most notable of the Persians to be his guests at a banquet. They came as they were bidden; the dinner was held at Thebes. What follows was told me by Thersander of Orchomenus, one of the most notable men of that place. Thersander too (he said) was invited to this dinner, and fifty Thebans in addition. Attaginus made them sit, not each man by himself but on each couch a Persian and a Theban together.

2Now as they were drinking together after dinner, the Persian who sat with him asked Thersander in the Greek tongue from what country he was. Thersander answered that he was from Orchomenus. Then said the Persian: “Since you have eaten at the board with me and drunk with me afterwards, I would like to leave a memorial of my belief, so that you yourself may have such knowledge as to take fitting counsel for your safety.

3Do you see these Persians at the banquet and that host which we left encamped by the river side? In a little while you shall see but a small remnant left alive of all these.” As he said this, the Persian wept bitterly.

4Marvelling at these words, Thersander answered: “Must you not then tell this to Mardonius and those honorable Persians who are with him?” “Sir,” said the Persian, “that which a god wills to send no man can turn aside, for even truth sometimes finds no one to believe it.

5What I have said is known to many of us Persians, but we follow, in the bonds of necessity. It is the most hateful thing for a person to have much knowledge and no power.” This tale I heard from Thersander of Orchomenus who told me in addition that he had straightway told this to others before the battle of Plataea.

Chapter 17

1So Mardonius was making his encampment in Boeotia. All the Greeks of that region who sided with the Persians furnished fighting men, and they joined with him in his attack upon Athens, with the exception of the Phocians; as for taking the Persian side, that they did right away, though from necessity rather than willingly.

2A few days after the Persians' coming to Thebes, a thousand Phocian men-at-arms under the leadership of Harmocydes, the most notable of their countrymen, arrived. When these men too were in Thebes, Mardonius sent horsemen and bade the Phocians take their station on the plain by themselves.

3When they had done so, the whole of the Persian cavalry appeared, and presently word was spread through all of the Greek army which was with Mardonius, and likewise among the Phocians themselves, that Mardonius would shoot them to death with javelins.

4Then their general Harmocydes exhorted them: “Men of Phocis,” he said, “seeing that death at these fellows' hands is staring us in the face (we being, as I surmise, maligned by the Thessalians), it is now time for every one of you to be noble; for it is better to end our lives in action and fighting than tamely to suffer a shameful death. No, rather we will teach them that they whose slaying they have devised are men of Hellas.” Thus he exhorted them.

Chapter 18

1But when the horsemen had encircled the Phocians, they rode at them as if to slay them, and drew their bows to shoot; it is likely too that some did in fact shoot. The Phocians opposed them in every possible way, drawing in together and closing their ranks to the best of their power. At this the horsemen wheeled about and rode back and away.

2Now I cannot with exactness say whether they came at the Thessalians' desire to slay the Phocians, but when they saw the men preparing to defend themselves, they feared lest they themselves should suffer some hurt, and so rode away (for such was Mardonius' command),—or if Mardonius wanted to test the Phocians' mettle.

3When the horsemen had ridden away, Mardonius sent a herald, with this message: “Men of Phocis, be of good courage, for you have shown yourselves to be valiant men, and not as it was reported to me. Now push this war zealously forward, for you will outdo neither myself nor the king in the rendering of service.” This is how the matter of the Phocians turned out.

Chapter 19

1As for the Lacedaemonians, when they had come to the Isthmus, they encamped there. When the rest of the Peloponnesians who chose the better cause heard that, seeing the Spartans setting forth to war, they thought that they should not lag behind the Lacedaemonians in so doing.

2Accordingly, they all marched from the Isthmus (the omens of sacrifice being favorable) and came to Eleusis. When they had offered sacrifice there also and the omens were favorable, they continued their march, having now the Athenians with them, who had crossed over from Salamis and joined with them at Eleusis.

3When they came (as it is said) to Erythrae in Boeotia, they learned that the barbarians were encamped by the Asopus. Taking note of that, they arrayed themselves opposite the enemy on the lower hills of Cithaeron.

Chapter 20

1When the Greeks did not come down into the plain, Mardonius sent against them his entire cavalry, whose commander was Masistius (whom the Greeks call Macistius), a man much honored among the Persians; he rode a Nesaean horse which had a golden bit and was elaborately adorned all over. Thereupon the horsemen rode up to the Greeks and charged them by squadrons; as they attacked, they did them much hurt, and called them women all the while.

Chapter 21

1Now it chanced that the Megarians were posted in that part of the field which was most open to attack, and here the horsemen found the readiest approach. Therefore, being hard-pressed by the charges, the Megarians sent a herald to the generals of the Greeks, who came to them and spoke as follows:

2“From the men of Megara to their allies: we cannot alone withstand the Persian cavalry (although we have till now held our ground with patience and valor, despite the fact that we were hard-pressed) in the position to which we were first appointed. Know that now we will abandon our post, unless you send others to take our place there.”

3This the herald reported, and Pausanias inquired among the Greeks if any would offer to go to that place and relieve the Megarians by holding the post. All the others did not want to, but the Athenians took it upon themselves, that is three hundred picked men of Athens, whose captain was Olympiodorus son of Lampon.

Chapter 22

1Those who volunteered themselves, were posted at Erythrae in front of the whole Greek army, and they took with them the archers also. They fought for a long time and the end of the battle was as I will now tell. The cavalry charged by squadrons, and Masistius' horse, being at the head of the rest, was struck in the side by an arrow. Rearing up in pain, it threw Masistius,

2who when he fell, was straightaway set upon by the Athenians. His horse they took then and there, and he himself was killed fighting. They could not, however, kill him at first, for he was outfitted in the following manner: he wore a purple tunic over a cuirass of golden scales which was within it; thus they accomplished nothing by striking at the cuirass, until someone saw what was happening and stabbed him in the eye. Then he collapsed and died.

3But as chance would have it, the rest of the horsemen knew nothing of this, for they had not seen him fall from his horse, or die. They wheeled about and rode back without perceiving what was done. As soon as they halted, however, they saw what they were missing since there was no one to give them orders. Then when they perceived what had occurred, they gave each other the word, and all rode together to recover the dead body.

Chapter 23

1When the Athenians saw the horsemen riding at them, not by squadrons as before, but all together, they cried to the rest of the army for help. While all their infantry was rallying to aid, there was a bitter fight over the dead body.

2As long as the three hundred stood alone, they had the worst of the battle by far, and were ready to leave the dead man. When the main body came to their aid, then it was the horsemen who could no longer hold their ground, nor help to recover the dead man, but rather lost others of their comrades in addition to Masistius. They accordingly withdrew and halted about two furlongs away, where they deliberated what they should do. Since there was no one to give them orders, they resolved to report to Mardonius.

Chapter 24

1When the cavalry returned to camp, Mardonius and the whole army mourned deeply for Masistius, cutting their own hair and the hair of their horses and beasts of burden, and lamenting loudly; the sound of this was heard over all Boeotia, for a man was dead who, next to Mardonius, was most esteemed by all Persia and the king.

Chapter 25

1So the barbarians honored Masistius' death in their customary way, but the Greeks were greatly encouraged that they withstood and drove off the charging horsemen. First they laid the dead man on a cart and carried him about their ranks, and the body was well worth seeing, because of its stature and grandeur; therefore, they would even leave their ranks and come to view Masistius.

2Presently they resolved that they would march down to Plataea, for they saw that the ground there was generally more suited for encampment than that at Erythrae, and chiefly because it was better watered. It was to this place and to the Gargaphian spring which was there, that they resolved to go and pitch camp in their several battalions;

3They took up their arms and marched along the lower slopes of Cithaeron past Hysiae to the lands of Plataea, and when they arrived, they arrayed themselves nation by nation near the Gargaphian spring and the precinct of the hero Androcrates, among low hills and in a level country.

Chapter 26

1During the drawing up of battle formation there arose much dispute between the Tegeans and the Athenians, for each of them claimed that they should hold the second wing of the army, justifying themselves by tales of deeds new and old.

2First the Tegeans spoke: “We, among all the allies, have always had the right to hold this position in all campaigns, of the united Peloponnesian armies, both ancient and recent, ever since that time when the Heraclidae after Eurystheus' death attempted to return to the Peloponnese.

3We gained because of the achievement which we will relate. When we marched out at the Isthmus for war, along with the Achaeans and Ionians who then dwelt in the Peloponnese, and encamped opposite the returning exiles, then (it is said) Hyllus announced that army should not be risked against army in battle, but that that champion in the host of the Peloponnesians whom they chose as their best should fight with him in single combat on agreed conditions.

4The Peloponnesians, resolving that this should be so, swore a compact that if Hyllus should overcome the Peloponnesian champion, the Heraclidae should return to the land of their fathers, but if he were himself beaten, then the Heraclidae should depart and lead their army away, not attempting to return to the Peloponnese until a hundred years had passed.

5Then our general and king Echemus, son of Phegeus' son Eeropus, volunteered and was chosen out of all the allied host; he fought that duel and killed Hyllus. It was for that feat of arms that the Peloponnesians granted us this in addition to other great privileges which we have never ceased to possess, namely that in all united campaigns we should always lead the army's second wing.

6Now with you, men of Lacedaemon, we have no rivalry, but forbear and bid you choose the command of whichever wing you want. We do, however, say that our place is at the head of the other, as it has always been. Quite apart from that feat which we have related, we are worthier than the Athenians to hold that post,

7for we have fought many battles which turned out favorably for you, men of Lacedaemon, and others besides. It is accordingly we and not the Athenians who should hold the second wing, for neither at some earlier period nor recently, have they achieved such feats of arms as we.”

Chapter 27

1To these words the Athenians replied: “It is our belief that we are gathered for battle with the barbarian, and not for speeches; but since the man of Tegea has made it his business to speak of all the valorous deeds, old and new, which either of our nations has at any time achieved, we must prove to you how we, rather than Arcadians, have by virtue of our valor a hereditary right to the place of honor. These Tegeans say that they killed the leader of the Heraclidae at the Isthmus.

2Now when those same Heraclidae had been rejected by every Greek people to whom they resorted to escape the tyranny of the Mycenaeans, we alone received them. With them we vanquished those who then inhabited the Peloponnese, and we broke the pride of Eurystheus.

3Furthermore, when the Argives who had marched with Polynices against Thebes had there made an end of their lives and lay unburied, know that we sent our army against the Cadmeans and recovered the dead and buried them in Eleusis.

4We also have on record our great victory against the Amazons, who once came from the river Thermodon and broke into Attica, and in the hard days of Troy we were second to none. But since it is useless to recall these matters—for those who were previously valiant may now be of lesser mettle, and those who lacked mettle then may be better men now—

5enough of the past. Supposing that we were known for no achievement (although the fact is that we have done more than any other of the Greeks), we nevertheless deserve to have this honor and more beside because of the role we played at Marathon, seeing that alone of all Greeks we met the Persian singlehandedly and did not fail in that enterprise, but overcame forty-six nations.

6Is it not then our right to hold this post, for that one feat alone? Yet seeing that this is no time for wrangling about our place in the battle, we are ready to obey you, men of Lacedaemon and take whatever place and face whatever enemy you think fitting. Wherever you set us, we will strive to be valiant men. Command us then, knowing that we will obey.”

Chapter 28

1This was the Athenians' response, and the whole army shouted aloud that the Athenians were worthier to hold the wing than the Arcadians. It was in this way that the Athenians were preferred to the men of Tegea, and gained that place.

2Presently the whole Greek army was arrayed as I will show, both the later and the earliest comers. On the right wing were ten thousand Lacedaemonians; five thousand of these, who were Spartans, had a guard of thirty-five thousand light-armed helots, seven appointed for each man.

3The Spartans chose the Tegeans for their neighbors in the battle, both to do them honor, and for their valor; there were of these fifteen hundred men-at-arms. Next to these in the line were five thousand Corinthians, at whose desire Pausanias permitted the three hundred Potidaeans from Pallene then present to stand by them.

4Next to these were six hundred Arcadians from Orchomenus, and after them three thousand men of Sicyon. By these one thousand Troezenians were posted, and after them two hundred men of Lepreum, then four hundred from Mycenae and Tiryns, and next to them one thousand from Phlius. By these stood three hundred men of Hermione.

5Next to the men of Hermione were six hundred Eretrians and Styreans; next to them, four hundred Chalcidians; next again, five hundred Ampraciots. After these stood eight hundred Leucadians and Anactorians, and next to them two hundred from Pale in Cephallenia;

6after them in the array, five hundred Aeginetans; by them stood three thousand men of Megara, and next to these six hundred Plataeans. At the end, and first in the line, were the Athenians who held the left wing. They were eight thousand in number, and their general was Aristides son of Lysimachus.

Chapter 29

1All these, except the seven appointed to attend each Spartan, were men-at-arms, and the whole sum of them was thirty-eight thousand and seven hundred. This was the number of men-at-arms that mustered for war against the barbarian; as regards the number of the light-armed men, there were in the Spartan array seven for each man-at-arms, that is, thirty-five thousand, and every one of these was equipped for war.

2The light-armed from the rest of Lacedaemon and Hellas were as one to every man-at-arms, and their number was thirty-four thousand and five hundred.

Chapter 30

1So the total of all the light-armed men who were fighters was sixty-nine thousand and five hundred, and of the whole Greek army mustered at Plataea, men-at-arms and light-armed fighting men together, eleven times ten thousand less eighteen hundred. The Thespians who were present were one hundred and ten thousand in number, for the survivors of the Thespians were also present with the army, eighteen hundred in number. These then were arrayed and encamped by the Asopus.

Chapter 31

1When Mardonius' barbarians had finished their mourning for Masistius and heard that the Greeks were at Plataea, they also came to the part of the Asopus river nearest to them. When they were there, they were arrayed for battle by Mardonius as I shall show. He posted the Persians facing the Lacedaemonians.

2Seeing that the Persians by far outnumbered the Lacedaemonians, they were arrayed in deeper ranks and their line ran opposite the Tegeans also. In his arraying of them he chose out the strongest part of the Persians to set it over against the Lacedaemonians, and posted the weaker by them facing the Tegeans; this he did being so informed and taught by the Thebans.

3Next to the Persians he posted the Medes opposite the men of Corinth, Potidaea, Orchomenus, and Sicyon; next to the Medes, the Bactrians, opposite the men of Epidaurus, Troezen, Lepreum, Tiryns, Mycenae, and Phlius.

4After the Bactrians he set the Indians, opposite the men of Hermione and Eretria and Styra and Chalcis. Next to the Indians he posted the Sacae, opposite the Ampraciots, Anactorians, Leucadians, Paleans, and Aeginetans;

5next to the Sacae, and opposite the Athenians, Plataeans, Megarians, the Boeotians, Locrians, Malians, Thessalians, and the thousand that came from Phocis; for not all the Phocians took the Persian side, but some of them gave their aid to the Greek cause; these had been besieged on Parnassus, and issued out from there to harry Mardonius' army and the Greeks who were with him. Beside these, he arrayed the Macedonians also and those who lived in the area of Thessaly opposite the Athenians.

Chapter 32

1These which I have named were the greatest of the nations set in array by Mardonius, but there was also in the army a mixture of Phrygians, Thracians, Mysians, Paeonians, and the rest, besides Ethiopians and the Egyptian swordsmen called Hermotybies and Calasiries, who are the only fighting men in Egypt.

2These had been fighters on shipboard, till Mardonius while yet at Phalerum disembarked them from their ships; for the Egyptians were not appointed to serve in the land army which Xerxes led to Athens. Of the barbarians, then, there were three hundred thousand, as I have already shown. As for the Greek allies of Mardonius, no one knows the number of them (for they were not counted), I suppose them to have been mustered to the number of fifty thousand. These were the footmen that were set in array; the cavalry were separately ordered.

Chapter 33

1On the second day after they had all been arrayed according to their nations and their battalions, both armies offered sacrifice. It was Tisamenus who sacrificed for the Greeks, for he was with their army as a diviner; he was an Elean by birth, a Clytiad of the Iamid clan, and the Lacedaemonians gave him the freedom of their city.

2This they did, for when Tisamenus was inquiring of the oracle at Delphi concerning offspring, the priestess prophesied to him that he should win five great victories. Not understanding that oracle, he engaged in bodily exercise, thinking that he would then be able to win in similar sports. When he had trained himself for the Five Contests, he came within one wrestling bout of winning the Olympic prize, in a match with Hieronymus of Andros.

3The Lacedaemonians, however, perceived that the oracle given to Tisamenus spoke of the lists not of sport but of war, and they attempted to bribe Tisamenus to be a leader in their wars jointly with their kings of Heracles' line.

4When he saw that the Spartans set great store by his friendship, he set his price higher, and made it known to them that he would do what they wanted only in exchange for the gift of full citizenship and all of the citizen's rights.

5Hearing that, the Spartans at first were angry and completely abandoned their request; but when the dreadful menace of this Persian host hung over them, they consented and granted his demand. When he saw their purpose changed, he said that he would not be content with that alone; his brother Hegias too must be made a Spartan on the same terms as himself.

Chapter 34

1By so saying he imitated Melampus, in so far as one may compare demands for kingship with those for citizenship. For when the women of Argos had gone mad, and the Argives wanted him to come from Pylos and heal them of that madness, Melampus demanded half of their kingship for his wages.

2This the Argives would not put up with and departed. When, however, the madness spread among their women, they promised what Melampus demanded and were ready to give it to him. Thereupon, seeing their purpose changed, he demanded yet more and said that he would not do their will except if they gave a third of their kingship to his brother Bias; now driven into dire straits, the Argives consented to that also.

Chapter 35

1The Spartans too were so eagerly desirous of winning Tisamenus that they granted everything that he demanded. When they had granted him this also, Tisamenus of Elis, now a Spartan, engaged in divination for them and aided them to win five very great victories. No one on earth save Tisamenus and his brother ever became citizens of Sparta.

2Now the five victories were these: one, the first, this victory at Plataea; next, that which was won at Tegea over the Tegeans and Argives; after that, over all the Arcadians save the Mantineans at Dipaea; next, over the Messenians at Ithome; lastly, the victory at Tanagra over the Athenians and Argives, which was the last won of the five victories.

Chapter 36

1This Tisamenus had now been brought by the Spartans and was the diviner of the Greeks at Plataea. The sacrifices boded good to the Greeks if they would just defend themselves, but evil if they should cross the Asopus and be the first to attack.

Chapter 37

1Mardonius' sacrifices also foretold an unfavorable outcome if he should be zealous to attack first, and good if he should but defend himself. He too used the Greek manner of sacrifice, and Hegesistratus of Elis was his diviner, the most notable of the sons of Tellias. This man had been put in prison and condemned to die by the Spartans for the great harm which he had done them.

2Being in such bad shape inasmuch as he was in peril of his life and was likely to be very grievously maltreated before his death, he did something which was almost beyond belief; made fast in iron-bound stocks, he got an iron weapon which was brought in some way into his prison, and straightway conceived a plan of such courage as we have never known; reckoning how best the rest of it might get free, he cut off his own foot at the instep.

3This done, he tunneled through the wall out of the way of the guards who kept watch over him, and so escaped to Tegea. All night he journeyed, and all day he hid and lay hidden in the woods, till on the third night he came to Tegea, while all the people of Lacedaemon sought him. The latter were greatly amazed when they saw the half of his foot which had been cut off and lying there but not were unable to find the man himself.

4This, then, is the way in which he escaped the Lacedaemonians and took refuge in Tegea, which at that time was unfriendly to Lacedaemon. After he was healed and had made himself a foot of wood, he declared himself an open enemy of the Lacedaemonians. Yet the enmity which he bore them brought him no good at the last, for they caught him at his divinations in Zacynthus and killed him.

Chapter 38

1The death of Hegesistratus, however, took place after the Plataean business. At the present he was by the Asopus, hired by Mardonius for no small wage, where he sacrificed and worked zealously, both for the hatred he bore the Lacedaemonians and for gain.

2When no favorable omens for battle could be won either by the Persians themselves or by the Greeks who were with them (for they too had a diviner of their own, Hippomachus of Leucas), and the Greeks kept flocking in and their army grew, Timagenides son of Herpys, a Theban, advised Mardonius to guard the outlet of the pass over Cithaeron, telling him that the Greeks were coming in daily and that he would thereby cut off many of them.

Chapter 39

1The armies had already lain hidden opposite each other for eight days when he gave this counsel. Mardonius perceived that the advice was good, and when night had fallen, he sent his horsemen to the outlet of the pass over Cithaeron which leads towards Plataea. This pass the Boeotians call the Three Heads, and the Athenians the Oak's Heads. The horsemen who were sent out did not go in vain,

2for they caught both five hundred beasts of burden which were going into the low country, bringing provisions from the Peloponnese for the army, and men who came with the wagons. When they had taken this quarry, the Persians killed without mercy, sparing neither man nor beast. When they had their fill of slaughter, they encircled the rest and drove them to Mardonius and his camp.

Chapter 40

1After this deed they waited two days more, neither side desiring to begin the battle, for although the barbarians came to the Asopus to test the Greeks intent, neither army crossed it. Mardonius' cavalry, however, kept pressing upon and troubling the Greeks, for the Thebans, in their zeal for the Persian part, waged war heartily, and kept on guiding the horsemen to the encounter; thereafter it was the turn of the Persians and Medes, and they and none other would do deeds of valor.

Chapter 41

1Until ten days had passed, no more was done than this. On the eleventh day from their first encampment opposite each other, the Greeks growing greatly in number and Mardonius being greatly vexed by the delay, there was a debate held between Mardonius son of Gobryas and Artabazus son of Pharnaces, who stood as high as only few others in Xerxes' esteem.

2Their opinions in council were as I will show. Artabazus thought it best that they should strike their camp with all speed and lead the whole army within the walls of Thebes. Here there was much food stored and fodder for their beasts of burden; furthermore, they could sit at their ease here and conclude the business by doing as follows:

3they could take the great store they had of gold, minted and other, and silver drinking-cups, and send all this to all places in Hellas without stint, excepting none, but especially to the chief men in the cities of Hellas. Let them do this (he said) and the Greeks would quickly surrender their liberty; but do not let the Persians risk the event of a battle.

4This opinion of his was the same as the Thebans, inasmuch as he too had special foreknowledge. Mardonius' counsel, however, was more vehement and intemperate and not at all leaning to moderation. He said that he thought that their army was much stronger than the Greeks and that they should give battle with all speed so as not to let more Greeks muster than were mustered already. As for the sacrifices of Hegesistratus, let them pay no heed to these, nor seek to wring good from them, but rather give battle after Persian custom.

Chapter 42

1No one withstood this argument, and his opinion accordingly prevailed; for it was he and not Artabazus who was commander of the army by the king's commission. He therefore sent for the leaders of the battalions and the generals of those Greeks who were with him and asked them if they knew any oracle which prophesied that the Persians should perish in Hellas.

2Those who were summoned said nothing, some not knowing the prophecies, and some knowing them but thinking it perilous to speak, and then Mardonius himself said: “Since you either have no knowledge or are afraid to declare it, hear what I tell you based on the full knowledge that I have.

3There is an oracle that Persians are fated to come to Hellas and all perish there after they have plundered the temple at Delphi. Since we have knowledge of this same oracle, we will neither approach that temple nor attempt to plunder it; in so far as destruction hinges on that, none awaits us.

4Therefore, as many of you as wish the Persian well may rejoice in that we will overcome the Greeks.” Having spoken in this way, he gave command to have everything prepared and put in good order for the battle which would take place early the next morning.

Chapter 43

1Now for this prophecy, which Mardonius said was spoken of the Persians, I know it to have been made concerning not them but the Illyrians and the army of the Enchelees. There is, however, a prophecy made by Bacis concerning this battle:

2By Thermodon's stream and the grass-grown banks of Asopus, Will be a gathering of Greeks for fight and the ring of the barbarian's war-cry; Many a Median archer, by death untimely overtaken will fall There in the battle when the day of his doom is upon him. I know that these verses and others very similar to them from Musaeus referred to the Persians. As for the river Thermodon, it flows between Tanagra and Glisas.

Chapter 44

1After this inquiry about oracles and Mardonius' exhortation, night fell, and the armies posted their sentries. Now when the night was far advanced and it seemed that all was still in the camps and the men were sleeping deeply, at that hour Alexander son of Amyntas, the general and king of the Macedonians, rode up to the Athenian outposts and wanted to speak to their generals.

2The greater part of the sentries remained where they were, but the rest ran to their generals and told them that a horseman had ridden in from the Persian camp, imparting no other word save that he desired to speak to the generals and called them by their names.

Chapter 45

1Hearing that, the generals straightway went with the men to the outposts. When they had come, Alexander said to them: “Men of Athens, I give you this message in trust as a secret which you must reveal to no one but Pausanias, or else you will be responsible for my undoing. In truth I would not tell it to you if I did not care so much for all Hellas;

2I myself am by ancient descent a Greek, and I would not willingly see Hellas change her freedom for slavery. I tell you, then, that Mardonius and his army cannot get omens to his liking from the sacrifices. Otherwise you would have fought long before this. Now, however, it is his purpose to pay no heed to the sacrifices, and to attack at the first glimmer of dawn, for he fears, as I surmise, that your numbers will become still greater. Therefore, I urge you to prepare, and if (as may be) Mardonius should delay and not attack, wait patiently where you are; for he has but a few days' provisions left.

3If, however, this war ends as you wish, then must you take thought how to save me too from slavery, who have done so desperate a deed as this for the sake of Hellas in my desire to declare to you Mardonius' intent so that the barbarians may not attack you suddenly before you yet expect them. I who speak am Alexander the Macedonian.” With that he rode away back to the camp and his own station there.

Chapter 46

1The Athenian generals went to the right wing and told Pausanias what they had heard from Alexander. At the message Pausanias was terrified by the Persians, and said:

2“Since, therefore, the battle is to begin at dawn, it is best that you Athenians should take your stand opposite the Persians, and we opposite the Boeotians and the Greeks who are posted opposite you; for you have fought with the Medes at Marathon and know them and their manner of fighting while we have no experience or knowledge of those men. We Spartans have experience of the Boeotians and Thessalians, but not one of us has experience with the Medes.

3No, rather let us take up our equipment and change places, you to this wing and we to the left.” “We, too,” the Athenians answered, “even from the moment when we saw the Persians posted opposite you, had it in mind to make that suggestion which now has first come from you. We feared, however, that we would displease you by making it. But since you have spoken the wish yourselves, we too hear your words very gladly and are ready to do as you say.

Chapter 47

1Since both were satisfied with this, they exchanged their places in the ranks at the first light of dawn. The Boeotians noticed that and made it known to Mardonius. When he heard this, he straight away attempted to make a change for himself also, by moving the Persians opposite the Lacedaemonians. When Pausanias perceived what was being done, he saw that his action had been discovered and led the Spartans back to the right wing; Mardonius did the same thing on the left of his army.

Chapter 48

1When all were at their former posts again, Mardonius sent a herald to the Lacedaemonians with this message: “Men of Lacedaemon, you are said by the people of these parts to be very brave men. It is their boast of you that you neither flee from the field nor leave your post, but remain there and either slay your enemies or are yourselves killed. It would seem, however, that there is no truth in all this,

2for before we could attack and fight hand to hand, we saw you even now fleeing and leaving your station, using Athenians for the first trial of your enemy and arraying yourselves opposite those who are but our slaves.

3This is not the action of brave men. No, we have been grievously mistaken about you, for in accordance with what we heard about you, we expected that you would send us a herald challenging the Persians and none other to fight with you. That we were ready to do; but we find you making no such offer, but rather quailing before us. Now, therefore, since the challenge comes not from you, take it from us instead.

4What is there to prevent us from fighting with equal numbers on both sides, you for the Greeks (since you have the reputation of being their best), and we for the barbarians? If it is desirable that the others fight also, let them fight after us, but if, on the contrary the opinion prevails that we alone suffice, then let us fight it out. Let the winner in this contest determine victory for the whole army.”

Chapter 49

1This is the proclamation made by the herald; and when he had waited a while and no one answered him, he went back again, and at his return told what had happened to him. Mardonius was overjoyed and proud of this semblance of victory, and sent his cavalry to attack the Greeks.

2The horsemen rode at them and shot arrows and javelins among the whole Greek army to its great hurt, since they were mounted archers and difficult to deal with in an encounter; they spoiled and blocked the Gargaphian spring, from which the entire Greek army drew its water.

3None indeed but the Lacedaemonians were posted near the spring, and it was far from the several stations of the other Greeks, whereas the Asopus was near; nevertheless, they would always go to the spring, since they were barred from the Asopus, not being able to draw water from that river because of the horsemen and the arrows.

Chapter 50

1When this happened, seeing that their army was cut off from water and thrown into confusion by the horsemen, the generals of the Greeks went to Pausanias on the right wing, and debated concerning this and other matters; for there were other problems which troubled them more than what I have told. They had no food left, and their followers whom they had sent into the Peloponnese to bring provisions had been cut off by the horsemen and could not make their way to the army.

Chapter 51

1So they resolved in their council that if the Persians held off through that day from giving battle, they would go to the Island. This is ten furlongs distant from the Asopus and the Gargaphian spring, near which their army then lay, and in front of the town of Plataea.

2It is like an island on dry land because the river in its course down from Cithaeron into the plain is parted into two channels, and there is about three furlongs space in between till presently the two channels unite again, and the name of that river is Oeroe, who (as the people of the country say ) was the daughter of Asopus.

3To that place then they planned to go so that they might have plenty of water for their use and not be harmed by the horsemen, as now when they were face to face with them; and they resolved to change places in the second watch of the night, lest the Persians should see them setting forth and the horsemen press after them and throw them into confusion.

4Furthermore, they resolved that when they had come to that place, which is encircled by the divided channels of Asopus' daughter Oeroe as she flows from Cithaeron, they would in that night send half of their army to Cithaeron, to remove their followers who had gone to get the provisions; for these were cut off from them on Cithaeron.

Chapter 52

1Having made this plan, all that day they suffered constant hardship from the cavalry which continually pressed upon them. When the day ended, however, and the horsemen stopped their onslaught, then at that hour of the night at which it was agreed that they should depart, most of them rose and departed, not with intent to go to the place upon which they had agreed. Instead of that, once they were on their way, they joyfully shook off the horsemen and escaped to the town of Plataea. In the course of their flight they came to the temple of Hera which is outside of that town, twenty furlongs distant from the Gargaphian spring and piled their arms in front of the temple.

Chapter 53

1So they encamped around the temple of Hera. Pausanias, however, seeing their departure from the camp, gave orders to the Lacedaemonians to take up their arms likewise and follow the others who had gone ahead, supposing that these were making for the place where they had agreed to go.

2Thereupon, all the rest of the captains being ready to obey Pausanias, Amompharetus son of Poliades, the leader of the Pitanate battalion, refused to flee from the barbarians or (save by compulsion) bring shame on Sparta; the whole business seemed strange to him, for he had not been present in the council recently held.

3Pausanias and Euryanax were outraged that Amompharetus disobeyed them. Still more, however, they disliked that his refusing would compel them to abandon the Pitanate battalion, for they feared that if they fulfilled their agreement with the rest of the Greeks and abandoned him, Amompharetus and his men would be left behind to perish.

4Bearing this in mind, they kept the Laconian army where it was and tried to persuade Amompharetus that he was in the wrong.

Chapter 54

1So they reasoned with Amompharetus, he being the only man left behind of all the Lacedaemonians and Tegeans. As for the Athenians, they stood unmoved at their post, well aware that the purposes and the promises of Lacedaemonians were not alike.

2But when the army left its station, they sent a horseman of their own to see whether the Spartans were attempting to march or whether they were not intending to depart, and to ask Pausanias what the Athenians should do.

Chapter 55

1When the messenger arrived among the Lacedaemonians, he saw them arrayed where they had been, and their chief men by now in hot dispute. For though Euryanax and Pausanias reasoned with Amompharetus, that the Lacedaemonians should not be endangered by remaining there alone, they could in no way prevail upon him. At last, when the Athenian messenger came among them, angry words began to pass.

2In this wrangling Amompharetus took up a stone with both hands and threw it down before Pausanias' feet, crying that it was the pebble with which he voted against fleeing from the strangers (meaning thereby the barbarians). Pausanias called him a madman; then when the Athenian messenger asked the question with which he had been charged, Pausanias asked the man to tell the Athenians of his present condition, and begged them to join themselves to the Lacedaemonians and, as for departure, to do as they did.

Chapter 56

1The messenger then went back to the Athenians. When dawn found the dispute still continuing, Pausanias, who had up to this point kept his army where it was, now gave the word and led all the rest away between the hillocks, the Tegeans following, for he supposed that Amompharetus would not stay behind when the rest of the Lacedaemonians left him; this was in fact exactly what happened.

2The Athenians marshalled themselves and marched, but not by the same way as the Lacedaemonians, who stayed close to the broken ground and the lower slopes of Cithaeron in order to stay clear of the Persian horse. The Athenians marched down into the plain instead.

Chapter 57

1Now Amompharetus at first supposed that Pausanias would never have the heart to leave him and his men, and he insisted that they should remain where they were and not leave their post. When Pausanias' men had already proceeded some distance, he thought that they had really left him. He accordingly bade his battalion take up its arms and led it in marching step after the rest of the column,

2which after going a distance of ten furlongs, was waiting for Amompharetus by the stream Molois and the place called Argiopium, where there is a shrine of Eleusinian Demeter. The reason for their waiting was that, if Amompharetus and his battalion should not leave the place where it was posted but remain there, they would then be able to assist him.

3No sooner had Amompharetus' men come up than the barbarians' cavalry attacked the army, for the horsemen acted as they always had. When they saw no enemy on the ground where the Greeks had been on the days before this, they kept riding forward and attacked the Greeks as soon as they overtook them.

Chapter 58

1When Mardonius learned that the Greeks had departed under cover of night and saw the ground deserted, he called to him Thorax of Larissa and his brothers Eurypylus and Thrasydeius and said:

2“What will you say now, sons of Aleuas, when you see this place deserted? For you, who are their neighbors, kept telling me that Lacedaemonians fled from no battlefield and were the masters of warfare. These same men, however, you just saw changing their post, and now you and all of us see that they have fled during the night. The moment they had to measure themselves in battle with those that are in very truth the bravest on earth, they plainly showed that they are men of no account, and all other Greeks likewise.

3Now you, for your part, were strangers to the Persians, and I could readily pardon you for praising these fellows, who were in some sort known to you; but I marvelled much more that Artabazus, be he ever so frightened, should give us a coward's advice to strike our camp, and march away to be besieged in Thebes. Of this advice the king will certainly hear from me, but it will be discussed elsewhere.

4Now we must not permit our enemies to do as they want; they must be pursued till they are overtaken and pay the penalty for all the harm they have done the Persians.”

Chapter 59

1With that, he led the Persians with all speed across the Asopus in pursuit of the Greeks, supposing that they were in flight; it was the army of Lacedaemon and Tegea alone which was his goal, for the Athenians marched another way over the broken ground, and were out of his sight.

2Seeing the Persians setting forth in pursuit of the Greeks, the rest of the barbarian battalions straightway raised their standards and also gave pursuit, each at top speed, no battalion having order in its ranks nor place assigned in the line.

Chapter 60

1So they ran pell-mell and shouting, as though they would utterly make an end of the Greeks. Pausanias, however, when the cavalry attacked him, sent a horseman to the Athenians with this message: “Men of Athens, in this great contest which must give freedom or slavery to Hellas, we Lacedaemonians and you Athenians have been betrayed by the flight of our allies in the night that is past.

2I have accordingly now resolved what we must do; we must protect each other by fighting as best we can. If the cavalry had attacked you first, it would have been the duty of both ourselves and the Tegeans, who are faithful to Hellas, to aid you; but now, seeing that the whole brunt of their assault falls on us, it is right that you should come to the aid of that division which is hardest pressed.

3But if, as may be, anything has befallen you which makes it impossible for you to aid us, do us the service of sending us your archers. We are sure that you will obey us, as knowing that you have been by far more zealous than all others in this present war.”

Chapter 61

1When the Athenians heard that, they attempted to help the Lacedaemonians and defend them with all their might. But when their march had already begun, they were set upon by the Greeks posted opposite them, who had joined themselves to the king. For this reason, being now under attack by the foe which was closest, they could at the time send no aid.

2The Lacedaemonians and Tegeans accordingly stood alone, men-at-arms and light-armed together; there were of the Lacedaemonians fifty thousand and of the Tegeans, who had never been parted from the Lacedaemonians, three thousand. These offered sacrifice so that they would fare better in battle with Mardonius and the army which was with him.

3They could get no favorable omen from their sacrifices, and in the meanwhile many of them were killed and by far more wounded (for the Persians set up their shields for a fence, and shot showers of arrows). Since the Spartans were being hard-pressed and their sacrifices were of no avail, Pausanias lifted up his eyes to the temple of Hera at Plataea and called on the goddess, praying that they might not be disappointed in their hope.

Chapter 62

1While he was still in the act of praying, the men of Tegea leapt out before the rest and charged the barbarians, and immediately after Pausanias' prayer the sacrifices of the Lacedaemonians became favorable. Now they too charged the Persians, and the Persians met them, throwing away their bows.

2First they fought by the fence of shields, and when that was down, there was a fierce and long fight around the temple of Demeter itself, until they came to blows at close quarters. For the barbarians laid hold of the spears and broke them short.

3Now the Persians were neither less valorous nor weaker, but they had no armor; moreover, since they were unskilled and no match for their adversaries in craft, they would rush out singly and in tens or in groups great or small, hurling themselves on the Spartans and so perishing.

Chapter 63

1Where Mardonius was himself, riding a white horse in the battle and surrounded by a thousand picked men who were the flower of the Persians, there they pressed their adversaries hardest. So long as Mardonius was alive the Persians stood their ground and defended themselves, overthrowing many Lacedaemonians.

2When, however, Mardonius was killed and his guards, who were the strongest part of the army, had also fallen, then the rest too yielded and gave ground before the men of Lacedaemon. For what harmed them the most was the fact that they wore no armor over their clothes and fought, as it were, naked against men fully armed.

Chapter 64

1On that day the Spartans, as the oracle had foretold, gained from Mardonius their full measure of vengeance for the slaying of Leonidas, and the most glorious of victories of all which we know was won by Pausanias, the son of Cleombrotus, who was the son of Anaxandrides.

2(I have named the rest of Pausanias' ancestors in the lineage of Leonidas, for they are the same for both.) As for Mardonius, he was killed by Aeimnestus, a Spartan of note who long after the Persian business led three hundred men to battle at Stenyclerus against the whole army of Messenia, and was there killed, he and his three hundred.

Chapter 65

1At Plataea, however, the Persians, routed by the Lacedaemonians, fled in disorder to their own camp and inside the wooden walls which they had made in the territory of Thebes.

2It is indeed a marvel that although the battle was right by the grove of Demeter, there was no sign that any Persian had been killed in the precinct or entered into it; most of them fell near the temple in unconsecrated ground. I think—if it is necessary to judge the ways of the gods—that the goddess herself denied them entry, since they had burnt her temple, the shrine at Eleusis.

Chapter 66

1This, then, is what happened in this battle. But Artabazus son of Pharnaces had from the very first disapproved of the king's leaving Mardonius, and now all his counselling not to join battle had been of no avail. In his displeasure at what Mardonius was doing, he himself did as I will show.

2He had with him a great army, as many as forty thousand men. He knew full well what the outcome of the battle would be, and no sooner had the Greeks and Persians met than he led these with a fixed purpose, telling them to follow him all together wherever he should lead them, whatever they thought his intent might be.

3With that command he pretended to lead them into battle. As he came farther on his way, he saw the Persians already fleeing and accordingly led his men, no longer in the same array, but took to his heels and fled with all speed not to the wooden fort nor to the walled city of Thebes, but to Phocis, so that he might make his way with all haste to the Hellespont.

Chapter 67

1So Artabazus and his army turned that way. All the rest of the Greeks who were on the king's side fought badly on purpose, but not so the Boeotians; they fought for a long time against the Athenians. For those Thebans who were on the Persian side had great enthusiasm in the battle, and did not want to fight in a cowardly manner. As a result of this, three hundred of their first and best were killed there by the Athenians. At last, however, the Boeotians too yielded and they fled to Thebes, but not by the way which the Persians had fled and the multitude of the allies which had fought no fight to the end nor achieved any feat of arms.

Chapter 68

1This flight of theirs which took place before the actual closing of battle and was prompted because they saw the Persians flee, proves to me that it was on the Persians that the fortune of the barbarians hung. They accordingly all fled, save the cavalry, Boeotian and other; this helped the fleeing men in so far as it remained between them and their enemies and shielded its friends from the Greeks in their flight.

Chapter 69

1So the Greeks, now having the upper hand, followed Xerxes' men, pursuing and slaying. During this steadily growing rout there came a message to the rest of the Greeks, who were by the temple of Hera and had stayed out of the fighting, that there had been a battle and that Pausanias' men were victorious. When they heard this, they set forth in no ordered array, those who were with the Corinthians keeping to the spurs of the mountain and the hill country, by the road that led upward straight to the temple of Demeter, and those who were with the Megarians and Philasians taking the most level route over the plain.

2However, when the Megarians and Philasians had come near the enemy, the Theban horsemen (whose captain was Asopodorus son of Timander) caught sight of them approaching in haste and disorder, and rode at them; in this attack they trampled six hundred of them, and pursued and drove the rest to Cithaeron.

Chapter 70

1So these perished without anyone noticing. But when the Persians and the rest of the multitude had fled within the wooden wall, they managed to get up on the towers before the coming of the Lacedaemonians; then they strengthened the wall as best they could. When the Athenians arrived, an intense battle for the wall began.

2For as long as the Athenians were not there, the barbarians defended themselves and had a great advantage over the Lacedaemonians who had no skill in the assault of walls. When the Athenians came up, however, the fight for the wall became intense and lasted for a long time. In the end the Athenians, by valor and constant effort, scaled the wall and breached it. The Greeks poured in through the opening they had made;

3the first to enter were the Tegeans, and it was they who plundered the tent of Mardonius, taking from it besides everything else the feeding trough of his horses which was all of bronze and a thing well worth looking at. The Tegeans dedicated this feeding trough of Mardonius in the temple of Athena Alea. Everything else which they took they brought into the common pool, as did the rest of the Greeks.

4As for the barbarians, they did not form a unified body again once the wall was down, nor did anyone think of defense because the terrified men in the tiny space and the many myriads herded together were in great distress.

5Such a slaughter were the Greeks able to make, that of two hundred and sixty thousand who remained after Artabazus had fled with his forty thousand, scarcely three thousand were left alive. Of the Lacedaemonians from Sparta ninety-one all together were killed in battle; of the Tegeans, seventeen and of the Athenians, fifty-two.

Chapter 71

1Among the barbarians, the best fighters were the Persian infantry and the cavalry of the Sacae, and of men, it is said, the bravest was Mardonius. Among the Greeks, the Tegeans and Athenians conducted themselves nobly, but the Lacedaemonians excelled all in valor.

2Of this my only clear proof is (for all these conquered the foes opposed to them) the fact that the Lacedaemonians fought with the strongest part of the army, and overcame it. According to my judgment, the bravest man by far was Aristodemus, who had been reviled and dishonored for being the only man of the three hundred that came alive from Thermopylae; next after him in valor were Posidonius, Philocyon, and Amompharetus.

3Nevertheless, when there was a general discussion about who had borne himself most bravely, those Spartans who were there judged that Aristodemus, who plainly wished to die because of the reproach hanging over him and so rushed out and left the battle column behind, had achieved great deeds, but that Posidonius, who had no wish to die, proved himself a courageous fighter, and so in this way he was the better man.

4This they may have said merely out of jealousy, but all the aforesaid who were killed in that fight received honor, save Aristodemus; he, because he desired death because of the reproach previously mentioned, received none.

Chapter 72

1These won the most renown of all who fought at Plataea. For Callicrates, who, when he came to the army, was the finest not only of the Lacedaemonians, but also of all the other Greeks, died away from the battle. Callicrates, who was sitting in his place when Pausanias was offering sacrifice, was wounded in the side by an arrow.

2While his comrades were fighting, he was carried out of the battle and died a lingering death, saying to Arimnestus, a Plataean, that it was not a source of grief to him to die for Hellas' sake; his sorrow was rather that he had struck no blow and achieved no deed worthy of his merit, despite all his eager desire to do so.

Chapter 73

1Of the Athenians, Sophanes son of Eutychides is said to have won renown, a man from the town of Decelea, whose people once did a deed that was of eternal value, as the Athenians themselves say.

2For in the past when the sons of Tyndarus were trying to recover Helen, after breaking into Attica with a great host, they turned the towns upside down because they did not know where Helen had been hidden, then (it is said) the Deceleans (and, as some say, Decelus himself, because he was angered by the pride of Theseus and feared for the whole land of Attica) revealed the whole matter to the sons of Tyndarus, and guided them to Aphidnae, which Titacus, one of the autochthonoi, handed over to to the Tyndaridae.

3For that deed the Deceleans have always had and still have freedom at Sparta from all dues and chief places at feasts. In fact, even as recently as the war which was waged many years after this time between the Athenians and Peloponnesians, the Lacedaemonians laid no hand on Decelea when they harried the rest of Attica.

Chapter 74

1From that town was Sophanes, who now was the best Athenian fighter in the battle, and about him two tales are told. According to the first, he bore an iron anchor attached to the belt of his cuirass with a chain of bronze. He would cast this anchor whenever he approached his enemies in an attack so that the enemy, as they left their ranks, might not be able to move him from his place. When they were put to flight, it was his plan that he would pull up his anchor and so pursue them.

2So runs this tale. The second which contradicts with the first and relates that he wore no iron anchor attached to his cuirass, but that his shield, which he constantly whirled round and never held still, had on it an anchor as a device.

Chapter 75

1There is yet another glorious deed which Sophanes did; when the Athenians were besieging Aegina, he challenged and killed Eurybates the Argive, a victor in the Five Contests. Long after this, Sophanes met his death when he was general of the Athenians with Leagrus, son of Glaucon. He was killed at Datus by the Edonians in a battle for the gold-mines.

Chapter 76

1Immediately after the Greeks had devastated the barbarians at Plataea, a woman, who was the concubine of Pharandates a Persian, son of Teaspis, deserting from the enemy, came to them. She, learning that the Persians were ruined and the Greeks victorious, decked herself (as did also her attendants) with many gold ornaments and the fairest clothing that she had, and alighting thus from her carriage came to the Lacedaemonians while they were still in the midst of slaughtering. When she saw Pausanias, whose name and country she had often heard of, directing everything, she knew that it was he, and supplicated him clasping his knees:

2“Save me, your suppliant, O king of Sparta, from captive slavery, for you have aided me till now, by making an end of those men who hold sacred nothing of the gods or of any divinities. Coan I am by birth, the daughter of Hegetorides, son of Antagoras; in Cos the Persian seized me by force and held me prisoner.”

3“Take heart, lady,” Pausanias answered, “for you are my suppliant, and furthermore if you are really the daughter of Hegetorides of Cos, he is my closest friend of all who dwell in those lands.” For the present, he then entrusted her to those of the ephors who were present. Later he sent her to Aegina, where she herself desired to go.

Chapter 77

1Immediately after the arrival of this woman, the men of Mantinea came when everything was already over. Upon learning that they had come too late for the battle, they were extremely upset and said that they ought to punish themselves for that.

2When they heard that those Medes with Artabazus were fleeing, they would have pursued them as far as Thessaly. The Lacedaemonians, however, would not permit them to pursue the fleeing men.

3So when they returned to their own land, the Mantineans banished the leaders of their army from the country. After the Mantineans came the men of Elis, who also went away extremely upset, and after their departure, they too banished their leaders. Such were the doings of the Mantineans and Eleans.

Chapter 78

1There was at Plataea in the army of the Aeginetans one Lampon, son of Pytheas, a leading man of Aegina. He hastened to Pausanias with really outrageous counsel and coming upon him, said to him:

2“son of Cleombrotus, you have done a deed of surpassing greatness and glory; the god has granted to you in saving Hellas to have won greater renown than any Greek whom we know. But now you must finish what remains for the rest, so that your fame may be greater still and so that no barbarian will hereafter begin doing reckless deeds against the Greeks.

3When Leonidas was killed at Thermopylae, Mardonius and Xerxes cut off his head and set it on a pole; make them a like return, and you will win praise from all Spartans and the rest of Hellas besides. For if you impale Mardonius, you will be avenged for your father's brother Leonidas.”

Chapter 79

1This is what Lampon, thinking to please, said. Pausanias, however, answered him as follows: “Aeginetan, I thank you for your goodwill and forethought, but you have missed the mark of right judgment. First you exalt me and my fatherland and my deeds, yet next you cast me down to mere nothingness when you advise me to insult the dead, and say that I shall win more praise if I do so. That would be an act more proper for barbarians than for Greeks and one that we consider worthy of censure even in barbarians.

2No, as for myself, I would prefer to find no favor either with the people of Aegina or anyone else who is pleased by such acts. It is enough for me if I please the Spartans by righteous deeds and speech. As for Leonidas, whom you would have me avenge, I think that he has received a full measure of vengeance; the uncounted souls of these that you see have done honor to him and the rest of those who died at Thermopylae. But to you this is my warning: do not come again to me with words like these nor give me such counsel. Be thankful now that you go unpunished.”

Chapter 80

1With that Lampon departed. Then Pausanias made a proclamation that no man should touch the spoils, and ordered the helots to gather all the stuff together. They, spreading all over the camp, found there tents adorned with gold and silver, and couches gilded and silver-plated, and golden bowls and cups and other drinking-vessels;

2and sacks they found on wagons, in which were seen cauldrons of gold and silver. They stripped from the dead who lay there their armlets and torques, and golden daggers; as for the embroidered clothing, it was disregarded.

3Much of all this the helots showed, as much as they could not conceal, but much they stole and sold to the Aeginetans. As a result the Aeginetans laid the foundation of their great fortunes by buying gold from the helots as though it were bronze.

Chapter 81

1Having brought all the loot together, they set apart a tithe for the god of Delphi. From this was made and dedicated that tripod which rests upon the bronze three-headed serpent, nearest to the altar; another they set apart for the god of Olympia, from which was made and dedicated a bronze figure of Zeus, ten cubits high; and another for the god of the Isthmus, from which was fashioned a bronze Poseidon seven cubits high. When they had set all this apart, they divided what remained, and each received, according to his worth, concubines of the Persians and gold and silver, and all the rest of the stuff and the beasts of burden.

2How much was set apart and given to those who had fought best at Plataea, no man says. I think that they also received gifts, but tenfold of every kind, women, horses, talents, camels, and all other things also, was set apart and given to Pausanias.

Chapter 82

1This other story is also told. When Xerxes fled from Hellas, he left to Mardonius his own establishment. Pausanias, seeing Mardonius' establishment with its display of gold and silver and gaily colored tapestry, ordered the bakers and the cooks to prepare a dinner such as they were accustomed to do for Mardonius.

2They did his bidding, but Pausanias, when he saw golden and silver couches richly covered, and tables of gold and silver, and all the magnificent service of the banquet, was amazed at the splendor before him, and for a joke commanded his own servants to prepare a dinner in Laconian fashion. When that meal, so different from the other, was ready, Pausanias burst out laughing and sent for the generals of the Greeks.

3When these had assembled, Pausanias pointed to the manner in which each dinner was served and said: “Men of Hellas, I have brought you here because I desired to show you the foolishness of the leader of the Medes who, with such provisions for life as you see, came here to take away from us our possessions which are so pitiful.” In this way, it is said, Pausanias spoke to the generals of the Greeks.

Chapter 83

1Long after these events many of the Plataeans also found chests full of gold and silver and other things.

2Moreover, when their bodies (which the Plataeans gathered into one place) were laid bare of flesh, a skull was found of which the bone was all of one piece without suture. A jawbone also came to light in which the teeth of the upper jaw were one whole, a single bone, front teeth and grinders, and one could see the body of a man of five cubits stature.

Chapter 84

1As for the body of Mardonius, it was removed on the day after the battle; by whom, I cannot with certainty say. I have, however, heard of very many countries that buried Mardonius, and I know of many that were richly rewarded for that act by Mardonius' son Artontes.

2Which of them it was that stole and buried the body of Mardonius I cannot learn for certain. Some report that it was buried by Dionysophanes, an Ephesian. Such was the manner of Mardonius' burial.

Chapter 85

1But the Greeks, when they had divided the spoils at Plataea, buried each contingent of their dead in a separate place. The Lacedaemonians made three tombs; there they buried their “irens,” among whom were Posidonius, Amompharetus, Philocyon, and Callicrates.

2In one of the tombs, then, were the “irens,” in the second the rest of the Spartans, and in the third the helots. This, then is how the Lacedaemonians buried their dead. The Tegeans, however, buried all theirs together in a place apart, and the Athenians did similarly with their own dead. So too did the Megarians and Phliasians with those who had been killed by the horsemen.

3All the tombs of these peoples were filled with dead; but as for the rest of the states whose tombs are to be seen at Plataeae, their tombs are but empty barrows that they built for the sake of men that should come after, because they were ashamed to have been absent from the battle. There is one there called the tomb of the Aeginetans, which, as I learn by inquiry, was built as late as ten years after, at the Aeginetans' desire, by their patron and protector Cleades son of Autodicus, a Plataean.

Chapter 86

1As soon as the Greeks had buried their dead at Plataea, they resolved in council that they would march against Thebes and demand surrender of those who had taken the Persian side—particularly of Timagenidas and Attaginus, who were chief among their foremost men. If these men were not delivered to them, they would not withdraw from the area in front of the city till they had taken it.

2They came with this purpose on the eleventh day after the battle and laid siege to the Thebans, demanding the surrender of the men. When the Thebans refused this surrender, they laid waste to their lands and assaulted the walls.

Chapter 87

1Seeing that the Greeks would not cease from their harrying and nineteen days had passed, Timagenidas spoke as follows to the Thebans: “Men of Thebes, since the Greeks have resolved that they will not raise the siege till Thebes is taken or we are delivered to them, do not let the land of Boeotia increase the measure of its ills for our sake.

2No, rather if it is money they desire and their demand for our surrender is but a pretext, let us give them money out of our common treasury (for it was by the common will and not ours alone that we took the Persian side). If, however, they are besieging the town for no other reason than to have us, then we will give ourselves up to be tried by them.” This seemed to be said well and at the right time, and the Thebans immediately sent a herald to Pausanias, offering to surrender the men.

Chapter 88

1On these terms they made an agreement, but Attaginus escaped from the town. His sons were seized, but Pausanias held them free of guilt, saying that the sons were not accessory to the treason. As for the rest of the men whom the Thebans surrendered, they supposed that they would be put on trial, and were confident that they would defeat the impeachment by bribery. Pausanias, however, had that very suspicion of them, and when they were put into his hands he sent away the whole allied army and carried the men to Corinth, where he put them to death. This is what happened at Plataea and Thebes.

Chapter 89

1Artabazus the son of Pharnaces was by now far on his way in his flight from Plataea. The Thessalians, when he came among them, entertained him hospitably and inquired of him concerning the rest of the army, knowing nothing of what had happened at Plataea.

2Artabazus understood that if he told them the whole truth about the fighting, he would endanger his own life and the lives of all those with him, for he thought that every man would set upon him if they heard the story. Therefore, although he had revealed nothing to the Phocians, he spoke as follows to the Thessalians:

3“I myself, men of Thessaly, am pressing on with all speed and diligence to march into Thrace, being despatched from the army for a certain purpose with the men whom you see. Mardonius and his army are expected marching close on my heels. It is for you to entertain him, and show that you do him good service, for if you so do, you will not afterwards regret it.”

4So saying, he used all diligence to lead his army away straight towards Thrace through Thessaly and Macedonia without any delay, following the shortest inland road. So he came to Byzantium, but he left behind many of his army who had been cut down by the Thracians or overcome by hunger and weariness. From Byzantium he crossed over in boats. In such a way Artabazus returned to Asia.

Chapter 90

1Now on the same day when the Persians were so stricken at Plataea, it so happened that they suffered a similar fate at Mykale in Ionia. When the Greeks who had come in their ships with Leutychides the Lacedaemonian were encamped at Delos, certain messengers came to them there from Samos, Lampon of Thrasycles, Athenagoras son of Archestratides, and Hegesistratus son of Aristagoras. The Samians had sent these, keeping their despatch secret from the Persians and the tyrant Theomestor son of Androdamas, whom the Persians had made tyrant of Samos.

2When they came before the generals, Hegesistratus spoke long and vehemently: “If the Ionians but see you,” he said, “they will revolt from the Persians, and the barbarians will not remain; but if they do remain, you will have such a prey as never again. “ He begged them in the name of the gods of their common worship to deliver Greeks from slavery and drive the barbarian away.

3That, he said, would be an easy matter for them, “for the Persian ships are unseaworthy and no match for yours; and if you have any suspicion that we may be tempting you deceitfully, we are ready to be taken in your ships as hostages.”

Chapter 91

1As the Samian stranger was pleading so earnestly, Leutychides asked him (whether it was that he desired to know for the sake of a presage, or through some happy chance of a god), “Samian stranger, what is your name?” “Hegesistratus,” he replied.

2Then Leutychides cut short whatever else Hegesistratus had begun to say, and cried: “I accept the omen of your name, Samian stranger; now see to it that before you sail from here you and those who are with you pledge that the Samians will be our zealous allies.”

Chapter 92

1He said this and added deed to word. For straightway the Samians bound themselves by pledge and oath to alliance with the Greeks.

2This done, the rest sailed away, but Leutychides bade Hegesistratus to sail with the Greeks because of the good omen of his name. The Greeks waited through that day, and on the next they sought and received favorable augury; their diviner was Deiphonus son of Evenius, a man of that Apollonia which is in the Ionian gulf. This man's father Evenius had once fared as I will now relate.

Chapter 93

1There is at Apollonia a certain flock sacred to the Sun, which in the daytime is pastured beside the river Chon, which flows from the mountain called Lacmon through the lands of Apollonia and empties into the sea by the harbor of Oricum. By night, those townsmen who are most notable for wealth or lineage are chosen to watch it, each man serving for a year, for the people of Apollonia set great store by this flock, being so taught by a certain oracle. It is kept in a cave far distant from the town.

2Now at the time of which I speak, Evenius was the chosen watchman. But one night he fell asleep, and wolves, coming past his guard into the cave, killed about sixty of the flock. When Evenius was aware of it, he held his peace and told no man, intending to restore what was lost by buying others.

3This matter was not, however, hidden from the people of Apollonia, and when it came to their knowledge they brought him to judgment and condemned him to lose his eyesight for sleeping at his watch. So they blinded Evenius, but from the day of their so doing their flocks bore no offspring, nor did their land yield fruit as before.

4Furthermore, a declaration was given to them at Dodona and Delphi, when they inquired of the prophets what might be the cause of their present ill: the gods told them by their prophets that they had done unjustly in blinding Evenius, the guardian of the sacred flock, “for we ourselves” (they said) “sent those wolves, and we will not cease from avenging him until you make him such restitution for what you did as he himself chooses and approves; when that is fully done, we ourselves will give Evenius such a gift as will make many men consider him happy.”

Chapter 94

1This was the oracle given to the people of Apollonia. They kept it secret and charged certain of their townsmen to carry the business through; they acted as I will now show. Coming and sitting down by Evenius at the place where he sat, they spoke of other matters, till at last they fell to commiserating his misfortune. Guiding the conversation in this way, they asked him what compensation he would choose, if the people of Apollonia should promise to requite him for what they had done.

2He, knowing nothing of the oracle, said he would choose for a gift the lands of certain named townsmen whom he thought to have the two fairest estates in Apollonia, and a house besides which he knew to be the fairest in the town; let him (he said) have possession of these, and he would lay aside his anger, and be satisfied with that by way of restitution.

3So he said this, and those who were sitting beside him said in reply: “Evenius, the people of Apollonia hereby make you that restitution for the loss of your sight, obeying the oracle given to them.” At that he was very angry, for he learned through this the whole story and saw that they had cheated him. They did, however, buy from the possessors and give him what he had chosen, and from that day he had a natural gift of divination, through which he won fame.

Chapter 95

1Deiphonus, the son of this Evenius, had been brought by the Corinthians, and was the army's prophet. But I have heard it said before now, that Deiphonus was not the son of Evenius, but made a wrongful use of that name and worked for wages up and down Hellas.

Chapter 96

1Having won favorable omens, the Greeks put out to sea from Delos for Samos. When they were now near Calamisa in the Samian territory, they anchored there near the temple of Hera which is in those parts, and prepared for a sea-fight. The Persians, learning of their approach, also put out to sea and made for the mainland with all their ships save the Phoenicians, whom they sent sailing away. It was determined by them in council that they would not do battle by sea,

2for they thought themselves overmatched; the reason of their making for the mainland was that they might be under the shelter of their army at Mykale, which had been left by Xerxes' command behind the rest of his host to hold Ionia. There were sixty thousand men in it, and Tigranes, the noblest and tallest man in Persia, was their general.

3It was the design of the Persian admirals to flee to the shelter of that army, and there to beach their ships and build a fence round them which should be a protection for the ship and a refuge for themselves.

Chapter 97

1With this design they put to sea. So when they came past the temple of the Goddesses at Mykale to the Gaeson and Scolopois, where there is a temple of Eleusinian Demeter (which was built by Philistus son of Pasicles when he went with Nileus son of Codrus to the founding of Miletus), they beached their ships and fenced them round with stones and the trunks of orchard trees which they cut down; they drove in stakes around the fence and prepared for siege or victory, making ready, after consideration, for either event.

Chapter 98

1When the Greeks learned that the barbarians had gone off to the mainland, they were not all pleased that their enemy had escaped them, and did not know whether to return back or set sail for the Hellespont. At last they resolved that they would do neither, but sail to the mainland.

2Equipping themselves for this with gangways and everything else necessary for a sea-fight, they held their course for Mykale. When they approached the camp, no one put out to meet them. Seeing the ships beached within the wall and a great host of men drawn up in array along the strand, Leutychides first sailed along in his ship, keeping as near to the shore as he could, and made this proclamation to the Ionians by the voice of a herald:

3“Men of Ionia, you who hear us, understand what I say, for by no means will the Persians understand anything I charge you with when we join battle; first of all it is right for each man to remember his freedom and next the battle-cry ‘Hebe’: and let him who hears me tell him who has not heard it.”

4The purpose of this act was the same as Themsitocles' purpose at Artemisium; either the message would be unknown to the barbarians and would prevail with the Ionians, or if it were thereafter reported to the barbarians, it would cause them to mistrust their Greek allies.

Chapter 99

1After this counsel of Leutychides, the Greeks brought their ships to land and disembarked on the beach, where they formed a battle column. But the Persians, seeing the Greeks prepare for battle and exhort the Ionians, first of all took away the Samians' armor, suspecting that they would aid the Greeks;

2for indeed when the barbarian's ships brought certain Athenian captives, who had been left in Attica and taken by Xerxes' army, the Samians had set them all free and sent them away to Athens with provisions for the journey; for this reason in particular they were held suspect, as having set free five hundred souls of Xerxes' enemies.

3Furthermore, they appointed the Milesians to guard the passes leading to the heights of Mykale, alleging that they were best acquainted with the country. Their true reason, however, for so doing was that the Milesians should be separate from the rest of their army. In such a manner the Persians safeguarded themselves from those Ionians who (they supposed) might turn against them if opportunity were given for themselves: they set their shields close to make a barricade.

Chapter 100

1The Greeks, having made all their preparations advanced their line against the barbarians. As they went, a rumor spread through the army, and a herald's wand was seen lying by the water-line. The rumor that ran was to the effect that the Greeks were victors over Mardonius' army at a battle in Boeotia.

2Now there are many clear indications of the divine ordering of things, seeing that a message, which greatly heartened the army and made it ready to face danger, arrived amongst the Greeks the very day on which the Persians' disaster at Plataea and that other which was to befall them at Mykale took place.

Chapter 101

1Moreover, there was the additional coincidence, that there were precincts of Eleusinian Demeter on both battlefields; for at Plataea the fight was near the temple of Demeter, as I have already said, and so it was to be at Mykale also.

2It happened that the rumor of a victory won by the Greeks with Pausanias was true, for the defeat at Plataea happened while it was yet early in the day, and the defeat of Mykale in the afternoon. That the two fell on the same day of the same month was proven to the Greeks when they examined the matter not long afterwards.

3Now before this rumor came they had been faint-hearted, fearing less for themselves than for the Greeks with Pausanias, that Hellas should stumble over Mardonius. But when the report sped among them, they grew stronger and swifter in their onset. So Greeks and barbarians alike were eager for battle, seeing that the islands and the Hellespont were the prizes of victory.

Chapter 102

1As for the Athenians and those whose place was nearest them, that is, for about half of the line, their way lay over the beach and level ground; for the Lacedaemonians and those that were next to them, their way lay through a ravine and among hills. While the Lacedaemonians were making a circuit, those others on the other wing were already fighting.

2As long as the Persians' shields stood upright, they defended themselves and held their own in the battle, but when the Athenians and their neighbors in the line passed the word and went more zealously to work, that they and not the Lacedaemonians might win the victory, immediately the face of the fight changed.

3Breaking down the shields they charged all together into the midst of the Persians, who received the onset and stood their ground for a long time, but at last fled within their wall. The Athenians and Corinthians and Sicyonians and Troezenians, who were next to each other in the line, followed close after and rushed in together. But when the walled place had been razed, the barbarians made no further defense, but took to flight, all save the Persians,

4who gathered into bands of a few men and fought with whatever Greeks came rushing within the walls. Of the Persian leaders two escaped by flight and two were killed; Artayntes and Ithanitres, who were admirals of the fleet, escaped; Mardontes and Tigranes, the general of the land army, were killed fighting.

Chapter 103

1While the Persians still fought, the Lacedaemonians and their comrades came up and finished what was left of the business. The Greeks too lost many men there, notably the men of Sicyon and their general Perilaus.

2As for the Samians who served in the Median army and had been disarmed, they, seeing from the first that victory hung in the balance, did what they could in their desire to aid the Greeks. When the other Ionians saw the Samians set the example, they also abandoned the Persians and attacked the foreigners.

Chapter 104

1The Persians had for their own safety appointed the Milesians to watch the passes, so that if anything should happen to the Persian army such as did happen to it, they might have guides to bring them safely to the heights of Mykale. This was the task to which the Milesians were appointed for the reason mentioned above and so that they might not be present with the army and so turn against it. They acted wholly contrary to the charge laid upon them; they misguided the fleeing Persians by ways that led them among their enemies, and at last they themselves became their worst enemies and killed them. In this way Ionia revolted for the second time from the Persians.

Chapter 105

1In that battle those of the Greeks who fought best were the Athenians, and the Athenian who fought best was one who practised the pancratium, Hermolycus son of Euthoenus. This Hermolycus on a later day met his death in a battle at Cyrnus in Carystus during a war between the Athenians and Carystians, and lay dead on Geraestus. Those who fought best after the Athenians were the men of Corinth and Troezen and Sicyon.

Chapter 106

1When the Greeks had made an end of most of the barbarians, either in battle or in flight, they brought out their booty onto the beach, and found certain stores of wealth. Then after burning the ships and the whole of the wall, they sailed away.

2When they had arrived at Samos, they debated in council over the removal of all Greeks from Ionia, and in what Greek lands under their dominion it would be best to plant the Ionians, leaving the country itself to the barbarians; for it seemed impossible to stand on guard between the Ionians and their enemies forever. If, however, they should not so stand, they had no hope that the Persians would permit the Ionians to go unpunished.

3In this matter the Peloponnesians who were in charge were for removing the people from the lands of those Greek nations which had sided with the Persians and giving their land to the Ionians to dwell in. The Athenians disliked the whole plan of removing the Greeks from Ionia, or allowing the Peloponnesians to determine the lot of Athenian colonies, and as they resisted vehemently, the Peloponnesians yielded.

4It accordingly came about that they admitted to their alliance the Samians, Chians, Lesbians, and all other islanders who had served with their forces, and bound them by pledge and oaths to remain faithful and not desert their allies. When the oaths had been sworn, the Greeks set sail to break the bridges, supposing that these still held fast. So they laid their course for the Hellespont.

Chapter 107

1The few barbarians who escaped were driven to the heights of Mykale, and made their way from there to Sardis. While they were making their way along the road, Masistes son of Darius, who happened to have been present at the Persian disaster, reviled the admiral Artayntes very bitterly, telling him (with much beside) that such generalship as his proved him worse than a woman, and that no punishment was too severe for the harm he had done the king's estate. Now it is the greatest of all taunts in Persia to be called worse than a woman.

2These many insults angered Artayntes so much that he drew his sword upon Masistes to kill him, but Xenagoras son of Praxilaus of Halicarnassus, who stood behind Artayntes himself saw him run at Masistes, and caught him round the middle and lifted and hurled him to the ground. In the meantime Masistes' guards had also come between them.

3By doing so Xenagoras won the gratitude of Masistes himself and Xerxes, for saving the king's brother. For this deed he was made ruler of all Cilicia by the king's gift. Then they went on their way without anything further happening and came to Sardis.

Chapter 108

1Now it happened that the king had been at Sardis ever since he came there in flight from Athens after his overthrow in the sea-fight. Being then at Sardis he became enamored of Masistes' wife, who was also there. But as all his messages could not bring her to yield to him, and he would not force her to his will, out of regard for his brother Masistes (which indeed counted with the woman also, for she knew well that no force would be used against her), Xerxes found no other way to accomplish his purpose than that he should make a marriage between his own son Darius and the daughter of this woman and Masistes, for he thought that by doing so he would be most likely to win her.

2So he betrothed them with all due ceremony and rode away to Susa. But when he had come and had taken Darius' bride into his house, he thought no more of Masistes' wife, but changed his mind and wooed and won this girl Artaynte, Darius' wife and Masistes' daughter.

Chapter 109

1As time went on, however, the truth came to light, and in such manner as I will show. Xerxes' wife, Amestris, wove and gave to him a great gaily-colored mantle, marvellous to see. Xerxes was pleased with it, and went to Artaynte wearing it.

2Being pleased with her too, he asked her what she wanted in return for her favors, for he would deny nothing at her asking. Thereupon—for she and all her house were doomed to evil—she said to Xerxes, “Will you give me whatever I ask of you?” He promised this, supposing that she would ask anything but that; when he had sworn, she asked boldly for his mantle.

3Xerxes tried to refuse her, for no reason except that he feared that Amestris might have clear proof of his doing what she already guessed. He accordingly offered her cities instead and gold in abundance and an army for none but herself to command. Armies are the most suitable of gifts in Persia. But as he could not move her, he gave her the mantle; and she, rejoicing greatly in the gift, went flaunting her finery.

Chapter 110

1Amestris heard that she had the mantle, but when she learned the truth, it was not the girl with whom she was angry. She supposed rather that the girl's mother was guilty and that this was her doing, and so it was Masistes' wife whom she plotted to destroy.

2She waited therefore till Xerxes her husband should be giving his royal feast. This banquet is served once a year, on the king's birthday; the Persian name for it is “tukta,” which is in the Greek language “perfect.” On that day (and none other) the king anoints his head and makes gifts to the Persians. Waiting for that day, Amestris then asked of Xerxes that Masistes' wife should be given to her.

3Xerxes considered it a terrible and wicked act to give up his brother's wife, and that too when she was innocent of the deed; for he knew the purpose of the request.

Chapter 111

1Nevertheless, since Amestris was insistent and the law compelled him (for at this royal banquet in Persia every request must of necessity be granted), he unwillingly consented, and delivered the woman to Amestris. Then, bidding her do what she wanted, he sent for his brother and spoke as follows:

2“Masistes, you are Darius' son and my brother, and a good man; hear me then. You must no longer live with her who is now your wife. I give you my daughter in her place. Take her for your own, but do away with the wife that you have, for it is not my will that you should have her.”

3At that Masistes was amazed; “Sire,” he said, “what is this evil command that you lay upon me, telling me to deal with my wife in this way? I have by her young sons and daughters, of whom you have taken a wife for your own son, and I am very content with her herself. Yet you are asking me to get rid of my wife and wed your daughter?

4Truly, O king, I consider it a great honor to be accounted worthy of your daughter, but I will do neither the one nor the other. No, rather, do not force me to consent to such a desire. You will find another husband for your daughter as good as I, but permit me to keep my own wife.”

5This was Masistes' response, but Xerxes was very angry and said: “You have come to this pass, Masistes. I will give you no daughter of mine as a wife, nor will you any longer live with her whom you now have. In this way you will learn to accept that which is offered you.” Hearing that, Masistes said “No, sire, you have not destroyed me yet!” and so departed.

Chapter 112

1In the meantime, while Xerxes talked with his brother, Amestris sent for Xerxes' guards and treated Masistes' wife very cruelly; she cut off the woman's breasts and threw them to dogs, and her nose and ears and lips also, and cut out her tongue. Then she sent her home after she had undergone this dreadful ordeal.

Chapter 113

1Knowing nothing of this as yet, but fearing evil, Masistes ran home. Seeing what had been done to his wife, he immediately took counsel with his children and set out for Bactra with his own sons (and others too), intending to raise the province of Bactra in revolt and do the king the greatest of harm.

2This he would have done, to my thinking, had he escaped to the country of the Bactrians and Sacae. They were fond of him, and he was viceroy over the Bactrians. But it was of no use, for Xerxes learned what he intended and sent against him an army which killed him on his way, and his sons and his army. Such is the story of Xerxes' love and Masistes' death.

Chapter 114

1The Greeks who had set out from Mykale for the Hellespont first anchored off Lectum having been stopped by contrary winds, and came from there to Abydos, where they found the bridges broken which they thought would still be in place; these were in fact the chief cause of their coming to the Hellespont.

2The Peloponnesians then who were with Leutychides decided to sail away to Hellas, but the Athenians, with Xanthippus their general, that they would remain there and attack the Chersonesus. So the rest sailed away, but the Athenians crossed over to the Chersonesus and laid siege to Sestus.

Chapter 115

1Now when the Persians heard that the Greeks were at the Hellespont, they had come in from the neighboring towns and assembled at this same Sestus, seeing that it was the strongest walled place in that region. Among them there was a Persian named Oeobazus from Cardia, and he had carried the equipment of the bridges there. Sestus was held by the Aeolians of the country, but with him were Persians and a great multitude of their allies.

Chapter 116

1This province was ruled by Xerxes' viceroy Artayctes, a cunning man and a wicked one; witness the deceit that he practised on the king in his march to Athens, how he stole away from Elaeus the treasure of Protesilaus son of Iphiclus.

2This was the way of it; there is at Elaeus in the Chersonesus the tomb of Protesilaus, and a precinct around it, which contained much treasure: vessels of gold and silver, bronze, clothing, and other dedications; all of which Artayctes carried off by the king's gift.

3“Sire,” he said deceitfully to Xerxes, “there is here the house of a certain Greek, who met a just death for invading your territory with an army; give me this man's house, so that all may be taught not to invade your territory.” One would think that this plea would easily persuade Xerxes to give him a man's house, since the latter had no suspicion of Artayctes' meaning. His reason for saying that Protesilaus had invaded the king's territory was that the Persians believe all Asia to belong to themselves and whoever is their king. So when the treasure was given to him, he carried it away from Elaeus to Sestus, and planted and farmed the precinct. He would also come from Elaeus and have intercourse with women in the shrine. Now, when the Athenians laid siege to him, he had made no preparation for it; he did not think that the Greeks would come, and he had no way of escaping from their attack.

Chapter 117

1Since the siege continued into the late autumn, the Athenians grew weary of their absence from home and their lack of success at taking the fortress. They accordingly entreated their generals to lead them away again, but the generals refused to do that till they should take the place or be recalled by the Athenian state. At that the men endured their plight patiently.

Chapter 118

1But those who were within the walls were by now reduced to the last extremity, so much so that they boiled the thongs of their beds for food. At last, however, even these failed them, and Artayctes and Oeobazus and all the Persians made their way down from the back part of the fortress, where the fewest of their enemies were, and fled at nightfall.

2When morning came, the people of the Chersonese signified from their towers to the Athenians what had happened, and opened their gates. The greater part of the Athenians then went in pursuit, while the rest stayed to hold the town.

Chapter 119

1As Oeobazus was making his escape into Thrace, the Apsinthians of that country caught and sacrificed him in their customary manner to Plistorus the god of their land; as for his companions, they did away with them by other means.

2Artayctes and his company had begun their flight later, and were overtaken a little way beyond the Goat's Rivers, where after they had defended themselves a long time, some of them were killed and the rest taken alive. The Greeks bound them and carried them to Sestus, and together with them Artayctes and his son also in bonds.

Chapter 120

1It is related by the people of the Chersonese that a marvellous thing happened one of those who guarded Artayctes. He was frying dried fish, and these as they lay over the fire began to leap and writhe as though they had just been caught.

2The rest gathered around, amazed at the sight, but when Artayctes saw this strange thing, he called the one who was frying the fish and said to him: “Athenian, do not be afraid of this portent, for it is not to you that it has been sent; it is to me that Protesilaus of Elaeus is trying to signify that although he is dead and dry, he has power given him by the god to take vengeance on me, the one who wronged him.

3Now therefore I offer a ransom, the sum of one hundred talents to the god for the treasure that I took from his temple. I will also pay to the Athenians two hundred talents for myself and my son, if they spare us.”

4But Xanthippus the general was unmoved by this promise, for the people of Elaeus desired that Artayctes should be put to death in revenge for Protesilaus, and the general himself was so inclined. So they carried Artayctes away to the headland where Xerxes had bridged the strait (or, by another story, to the hill above the town of Madytus), and there nailed him to boards and hanged him. As for his son, they stoned him to death before his father's eyes.

Chapter 121

1This done, they sailed away to Hellas, carrying with them the cables of the bridges to be dedicated in their temples, and all sorts of things in addition. This, then, is all that was done in this year.

Chapter 122

1This Artayctes who was crucified was the grandson of that Artembares who instructed the Persians in a design which they took from him and laid before Cyrus; this was its purport:

2“Seeing that Zeus grants lordship to the Persian people, and to you, Cyrus, among them, let us, after reducing Astyages, depart from the little and rugged land which we possess and occupy one that is better. There are many such lands on our borders, and many further distant. If we take one of these, we will all have more reasons for renown. It is only reasonable that a ruling people should act in this way, for when will we have a better opportunity than now, when we are lords of so many men and of all Asia?”

3Cyrus heard them, and found nothing to marvel at in their design; “Go ahead and do this,” he said; “but if you do so, be prepared no longer to be rulers but rather subjects. Soft lands breed soft men; wondrous fruits of the earth and valiant warriors grow not from the same soil.”

4The Persians now realized that Cyrus reasoned better than they, and they departed, choosing rather to be rulers on a barren mountain side than dwelling in tilled valleys to be slaves to others.